Decepticons Have More Fun II, THE SEQUAL!
by metallicgirl42
Summary: This is the sequal to my first TFA fanfic, "Decepticons Have More Fun". Full summary inside. Please read, review and enjoy!
1. They Grow Up So Fast

**HELLO THERE!**

**It's me, blablabla234. This is the sequal to my first TFA fanfic, **_**Decepticons Have More Fun**_**. The first chapter of this story starts a few days after the first fanfic ends. Starscream and Spaceflower are still in love, Sweetie is still training to be a Seeker, and the other Seekers (Skywarp, Thundercracker, Ramjet, Slipstream, and Sunstorm) are staying at the Decepticons' base to help train her. Read, review and enjoy!**

"I think we can all agree where these Energon Pops belong," Starscream declared, holding one up. "The scrap heap."

Skywarp was trembling. "I _told_ you energon was scary!"

Each and every one of the Decepticons had come into the kitchen to watch the lethal Energon Pops get thrown away. Starscream and Spaceflower were standing by the refrigerator, Sweetie in Spaceflower's arms.

"And we wish to thank Megatron, for saving Sweetie when she was choking," Spaceflower added.

"Well, Spaceflower, I might be an evil Decepticon leader," Megatron replied, still expressionless, "but letting an innocent young Seeker-to-be go offline when I could have done something about it is still below my standards."

"You have _standards_, Megatron?" Thundercracker asked, smirking. (He was still pretty angry about the dislodged Energon Pop hitting him in the head.) "I never would have guessed."

"Well, I do." Megatron glared for a moment, then added, "Wipe that grin off your faceplates or I'll slagging do it for you."

"No! Don't fight!" Skywarp shrieked. "Fighting is scary!"

"You think _everything _is scary, Skywarp," Slipstream told him, sounding annoyed.

The reason the Seekers were here was because Sweetie needed training to be a Seeker herself one day, but it wasn't always enjoyable having them around—particularly when they got into fights with each other, which seemed to be quite often.

"Seekers, please," Spaceflower insisted. "This is a happy moment. No need to fight."

"Happy!" Sweetie waved her servos back and forth again and laughed. Then—POP!—she teleported to the middle of the room, then back to the refrigerator with her parents. (Sweetie was getting quite good at teleportation.)

"Transform and rise up," said Megatron—testing, apparently, if Sweetie would obey that order.

Sweetie transformed into jet mode, flew up and all around the room, turned back into robot mode, and landed safely in her mother's arms.

"Great job, Sweetie," Spaceflower cooed, kissing her head. "Aww, you're just like your daddy, aren't you? Such a good flier."

"Thank you, Spaceflower," said Starscream. "You're a good flier, too. Guess it just runs in the family."

_That evening_…

Starscream was in bed now, watching Spaceflower sing Sweetie to sleep as usual. Little did she know he had unlatched his interface hatch, which had been bothering him all solar cycle, starting with his girlfriend and the Energon Pops. It was only getting worse, though, as he listened to her enchanting voice singing Sweetie to sleep. Finally, the song was over, and Spaceflower set the now sleeping sparkling down in her cradle.

"That sure was a close one," she whispered, climbing into bed with Starscream. "I'm so happy Megatron was able to save Sweetie's life…aren't you?"

Starscream shrugged. "Yes…I am grateful, I guess. I still don't know why he did it, though. He hates me, and Sweetie's my daughter."

"It's like he said," Spaceflower reminded him. "She has a lot of potential. He didn't want her to go offline at such an early age. No offense, but we don't know that he would have saved _you_, had _you_ been choking on some frozen energon."

"Like I'm _actually_ going to try one of those Energon Pops."

"I certainly hope not," Spaceflower replied, pulling Starscream into a long, romantic kiss.

"My dear, I never thought I'd say this, but Blitzwing was right," Starscream said breathlessly, after they had broken the kiss. "We _do _act like a couple of sparklings."

"You're complaining?"

"Um, no, I am not," Starscream replied.

Spaceflower smiled (rather mischievously), and stuck her servo under the covers. "For Spark's _sake_, my love...I didn't know you were this excited to be with me."

"Pardon my anatomy." Starscream tensed up, then relaxed as Spaceflower stroked his spike with one finger. As soon as he released some lubricant, she let go.

"In all of my life cycle, I have never met such an attractive mech," Spaceflower continued, still not touching him. "With such a _wonderful _spike, too…"

"Well, it's, um, here, waiting for you…" Starscream gently put his claws on Spaceflower's shoulders and she ran her fingers along his wings, humming softly as she did so. Dear Primus, what a gloriouscombination—wait, what the…?

Spaceflower had, again, stopped, and was simply smiling at her boyfriend, for one cycle. Then those fingers were back to stroking his spike, in a very wonderful way…until she let go. (_AGAIN_?)

"My love, please stop teasing," Starscream gasped. "I don't think I can take it."

"Mm, greedy, aren't we?" Spaceflower whispered, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Of course not," he said, reaching down and inserting two fingers into her port—she would like that, he knew. And he didn't exactly hate it, either. He added the other three fingers, enjoying the sensation of her warm lubricant soaking his claw.

"Well, what are you waiting for, my love?" she asked, snuggling into him. "Enter me."

"Maybe I will and maybe I won't," Starscream replied airily. "That's what you get for teasing."

"What if I did _this_, then?" Spaceflower sat up, shoved his knees apart, and stuck his still-erect spike into her mouth.

"Yes, yes!" Starscream cried. This was what he had been craving…It felt even better than he had imagined—her silky-soft glossa was lightly caressing his sensor nodes, sending tingling waves of electricity throughout his circuitry, and it felt great. "Use your glossa, my love—oh that feels amazing—more—MORE—ahhh…"

Starscream overloaded and sighed relaxingly.

Spaceflower sat up quickly. "Starscream, you overloaded _right in my mouth_."

"And it felt _good_," he added happily, laying down again.

"Then are you ready for some 'facing, now?" Spaceflower asked.

"Well…I don't think I'm pressurized enough any more." That would probably change soon, of course, judging by the fact that he had been pressurized pretty much all solar cycle long.

"Maybe we can change that, my love," Spaceflower whispered, servos tracing along both his thighs, her feet gently brushing against his. Yes…it _was _changing, already. What the frag was WRONG with him? He was supposed to be pressurized during the "climax" of interface, not…well…every moment of every solar cycle.

It was probably just because of the stress, Starscream thought. Now that the Seekers were here, not only did they have to focus even harder on Sweetie's training, but they also had to accommodate five new (and pretty weird) guests. Often, since she worked so hard at being a good mother and hostess, Spaceflower was too tired to interface with him once they finally climbed into bed at night—the "friskiness" she was displaying tonight was actually quite the rarity. So he never got any "action", anyway. And he had been working quite hard himself—and that was never enjoyable. _Very _stressful. So maybe all these cravings he had been having lately were…normal?

Besides, even if they weren't, and he really _was _a "messed-up mech", why was he even _thinking _about it? Why was he "supposed" to be anything? His interface equipment was HIS business, and nobody else's!

Well, maybe it was Spaceflower's business too, of course, since she really was the only one he wanted. He couldn't imagine bringing _anyone_ to this bed besides her. And that probably explained more than anything else (even stress!) why he suddenly found himself gently spreading her thighs apart, one at a time, and finally penetrating, after she had climbed on top of him.

"Thiswas what I wanted, for so long," Spaceflower whispered. Starscream smiled and stroked her radiantly beautiful face with one claw. She smiled back then started her thrusting, and Starscream let out an involuntary moan of satisfaction…yes, this was what he had wanted, too.

"You know I want to make you happy, my dear," he replied, squeezing her tighter as he released even more lubricant. She mewled quietly and squeezed him back. "I know 'facing isn't just about getting what _I _want."

"We both deserve to have our fun," Spaceflower finished, stroking his wings. He closed his optics and kissed her forehead, then…stopped really thinking so much as she started thrusting even faster (and harder). Oh, yes. This _was _"fun", very much so. This was exactly what he had needed, and very badly, too.

_The next morning_…

All the Decepticons (including Thundercracker, Sunstorm, Skywarp, Slipstream and Ramjet) were sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying some energon—except Sweetie, who was still sucking on an oil barrel with a straw, and Skywarp, since energon was, of course, scary.

"How far have you all gotten on Sweetie's training?" Megatron asked suddenly.

"Mm…she should be ready for branding soon," Starscream replied nervously, but this was kind of stretching the truth. Sweetie was learning quickly—she seemed to be a very intelligent young femme—but she didn't know nearly enough to be ready for the Branding Ceremony.

"You know what she needs, though?" Blackarachnia said. "Some good mods. She doesn't have any yet. Maybe we could get her some lasers or something. She could shoot lasers out of her servos."

"_Lasers_?" Spaceflower shrieked, holding the sparkling close. "Do you know how dangerous that is? She could take herself offline! I would _never_ get her a laser mod!"

"Well, we can't treat Sweetie like a sparkling forever, my love," Starscream gently reminded her. "She has to grow up sometime."

Spaceflower looked down at Sweetie and cuddled her again, then said, rather tearfully, "I-I know…it's just that she's growing up so _fast_…I mean, it seems like just last solar cycle I sang her to sleep for the first time, and now she's soon going to have the Branding Ceremony and be all grown up…"

"It is the hardest part of every parent's life cycle," Icy told her, pensively sipping his energon.

"How the frag would you know?" Starscream demanded. "I don't think you've ever been a parent, have you, Blitzwing?"

"Well…no," Blitzwing admitted. "But still, it makes sense."

Spaceflower leaned into Starscream, the sparkling still in her arms. He knew she wanted the sparkling to complete her training and meet her potential, but at the same time she was experiencing the pain that so many mothers and fathers experienced—never again would Sweetie be a tiny little sparkling she could sing to sleep and cuddle in her arms. Sweetie would be all grown up…unbelievably fast.

"You glitch-heads are forgetting what Sweetie obviously needs," Slipstream cut in suddenly. "She needs _stimulated _combat."

"What does 'stimulated combat' mean?" Skywarp asked. "It sounds scary."

"It means Sweetie would be able to practice with weaponry," Slipstream explained, "but instead of shooting real ammo, they just shoot non-toxic paint. And it's not scary at all, Skywarp. Grow a fragging spike, will you?"

"Stimulated combat will give Sweetie experience with weaponry without her having to practice with the real thing," Megatron said. "I will alert Swindle."

"_Swindle_?" Skywarp looked terrified now. "Isn't he that scary intergalactic arms dealer?"

"Well, he's an intergalactic arms dealer, but I wouldn't go so far as to call him scary," Megatron told him. "Besides real weaponry, he also sells 'practice' weapons, the kind Sweetie will use. She can get real weapons—even lasers, perhaps—after the Branding Ceremony."

Spaceflower nodded, but she was looking tearful again, so Starscream quickly set Sweetie in Blitzwing's lap and took Spaceflower out into the hall. "My love, are you all right?"

"They-they grow up so fast!" Spaceflower wailed, and burst into tears.

"I know," Starscream said, as soothingly as he could, and held his girlfriend close. "But remember, no matter how grown up she gets, she'll always be our little sparkling."

"You're right," Spaceflower sniffed, her beautiful voice cracking. "I'm…I'm so happy and proud that she's going to grow up into a good Seeker. Just…just like her father."


	2. Imma Firin' Mah Lazers

_Several solar cycles later_…

It was evening. Starscream, Spaceflower and Sweetie were sitting in the main monitor room, on the couch, Starscream's arm around Spaceflower, Sweetie in Spaceflower's lap. Blitzwing, Blackarachnia and Skywarp were there too. They were watching TV (the Seekers had brought their large-screen, high-definition TV with them upon arrival, against Megatron's wishes).

"65-year-old Detroit resident ripped in half and eaten by 500-pound gorilla in her basement?" Starscream asked, staring at the TV screen skeptically. "Does anybody know what a gorilla is?"

"_I_ know what gorillas are!" Skywarp whimpered. "They're big, scary, hairy organic Earth monsters!"

"It's just a news story," Spaceflower said. "It probably isn't even true. How often do gorillas lurk in old ladies' basements, just waiting to jump out and eat them?"

"All the time, I bet!" Skywarp was visibly trembling.

"Skywarp, I didn't know you had a gorilla phobia…not that I'm surprised," Blackarachnia told him.

"Well, I—" Skywarp was about to say something, but he was cut off in midsentence by a knock at their door. He cowered in fear (knocking was such a loud noise!) and Starscream went to answer the door.

"MEGATRON!" Starscream called out. "Swindle's here!"

Skywarp screamed. "Can you not yell so loud? And…keep Swindle away from me! His weapons are too scary!"

Starscream rolled his optics. Why did Skywarp have to be afraid of _everything_? He was also afraid of Megatron, of course—as soon as Megatron entered the room, Skywarp shrieked with terror and dived right under a couch pillow.

"Get out from under there at once, Skywarp," Megatron commanded.

Skywarp whimpered again and sat up. Megatron sighed and turned to Swindle. "So, do you have the 'practice weapons' I ordered?"

"Yes." Swindle nodded and grinned. "You asked for practice lasers? I've got those. And I also brought you those practice guns, the best of their kind. Oh and…that TV you've got over there is a very old model. I can sell you a new one half-off, if you'd like."

"No, Swindle, that will not be necessary," Megatron replied. "I'll take the guns and the lasers. Starscream, go get my credit download."

When Starscream came back with Megatron's credit download, Megatron paid for the fake weapons and Swindle, seeming pleased with the exchange, left.

Megatron opened the box and he and Starscream looked inside. There was a set of fake guns, and a set of fake lasers. If Sweetie could learn how to use these fake weapons, she could someday use real weapons. Starscream picked up the box and took it over to the couch, where Spaceflower and Sweetie were still sitting.

"No! NO!" Skywarp jumped away from the weapons-box. "_HELP_!"

"For Spark's _sake_, calm down!" Starscream snapped. He took the fake lasers out of the box and attached them to the fronts of Sweetie's servos; then he attached the fake guns to the top of her arms.

"Now, you have to teach her how to shoot," Megatron said.

"Watch Daddy!" After Starscream had gotten Sweetie's attention, he shot his null-rays up at the ceiling, then down at the floor.

"Now can you do the same thing with your new weapons, Sweetie?" Spaceflower asked.

"Fire!" Megatron commanded.

Sweetie stuck one servo out and tried to shoot her laser at the ceiling but, since her aim still wasn't very good, she ended up splattering Skywarp with pink paint instead.

"GAAAAHHH!" Skywarp screamed. "I have an irrational fear of pink paint!"

"It's non-toxic paint," Spaceflower reassured him. "There's nothing bad that could happen."

"You never know!" Skywarp insisted fearfully. "I-I need to go take a shower!"

With that he ran out of the room as fast as he could, everyone else staring after him.

"_Anyway_…," Megatron said, drawing out the word, "try out your guns now, Sweetie."

"Remember, aim at the ceiling!" Starscream added.

Sweetie shot her guns and, again, missed the ceiling. Her guns had a lot more paint inside them than the lasers did, and she ended up splattering the TV…_and _Megatron.

Megatron, now coated in bright pink paint, looked more than a little angry. Starscream walked over to Sweetie and pointed her servos up towards the ceiling. "Now…shoot your lasers."

With Starscream still holding her servos in place, Sweetie shot her lasers toward the ceiling, which would have been fine, except one of the blasts of paint went awry and splashed on a lightbulb instead. Other than that, though, she didn't really do anything wrong this time.

"Good job, Sweetie," said Spaceflower, walking over to Sweetie and kissing her on the head.

"Lasers!" Sweetie shrieked happily, in her high-pitched sparkling voice.

"Yes, your lasers," Spaceflower cooed. "You're such a fierce little Seeker, aren't you?"

To everyone's surprise, Sweetie turned on her rocket thrusters, flew over to Megatron and blasted him with pink paint again. Starscream managed to hold back his laugh (barely), but Sweetie wasn't holding back her laugh at all.

"Sweetie, no!" Spaceflower cried, and quickly snatched Sweetie out of the air. "_We do not shoot fellow Decepticons_. Only Autobots. Remember?"

"Autobot?" Sweetie asked, pointing at Megatron.

"No, I am not a fragging Autobot!" Megatron yelled. "I am a Decepticon! The leader of the Decepticons—no less!"

"Don't you _dare_ yell at her!" Spaceflower scolded, hugging Sweetie close. Usually, Spaceflower didn't question what Megatron had to say, but if _anyone _was mean to Sweetie, she tended to get very protective. Her maternal rage prevented her from staying back and following orders. And, as they say, there's nothing more dangerous than an angry femme.

"Now, Sweetie, shoot your lasers at the ceiling like you did at Megatron," Starscream told the sparkling. "Shoot 'em nice and hard."

"Up!" Spaceflower added, pointing her servos up at the ceiling.

Sweetie laughed her cute little sparkling laugh, then repeated, "Up!"

Then, with everyone watching, she pointed her servos up and shot her "lasers", right at the ceiling. It wasn't perfect—she hit another lightbulb and some of the paint splattered onto the floor—but she was, after all, only a sparkling. And for a sparkling, her aim wasn't really all that bad.

However, she was a very intelligent young sparkling, and Starscream and Spaceflower were both very proud of her. Even Megatron looked impressed, standing there with his arms folded, his entire body covered in bubblegum-pink paint.

"You're great at firing your lasers," Spaceflower cooed, picking Sweetie up and taking her back to the couch. "I'm so very proud of you."

"Me too," Starscream added. "However, there's a lot more training that goes into becoming a Seeker…and we can help you with that. You can be a Seeker, too."

"Seeker?" Sweetie asked.

"Yes, dear." Spaceflower kissed her daughter on the head and hugged her close. "And you'll be the best one ever."

Starscream cleared his throat. "Did you say something, my dear?"

"Well, besides you, my love," Spaceflower replied, walking up to Starscream and kissing him right on the lips.

After the kiss was over, Starscream smiled and kissed her forehead. "That's what I thought."


	3. Seekers as Teachers

_About two Earth weeks later_…

Sweetie's training was going very well. She was learning to talk in complete sentences now, and her flying/transforming skills were near excellent (considering the fact that they were instinctive, which means they don't need to be taught). Sweetie was getting quite good at shooting her fake lasers, and was now learning to shoot her guns. She had mastered walking a long time ago.

Of course, the Seekers were helping her learn all this. One time, outside, they had been teaching her some complicated flight maneuvers. (Those weren't instinctive; only simple flying skills were). However, Sweetie seemed to have a natural aptitude for flying, so they figured she would pick them up quickly.

Starscream wanted to demonstrate these, since he loved flying and he was very good at it, too. Spaceflower held Sweetie while her boyfriend zipped around the sky, performing his flight maneuvers (and showing off a little) as if he was trying to escape from an Autobot, or another Decepticon (like Megatron). There were more complicated maneuvers he knew how to do, but he was demonstrating simpler ones for now, because of Sweetie, who was still learning.

To display how he might escape from an enemy, he called Sunstorm into the sky (since Sunstorm was the least likely to protest). Sunstorm chased after Starscream, shooting at him and flying fast. Starscream flew faster, turning around every so often to shoot back. Sunstorm never caught Starscream and, after the "battle" was over, Starscream transformed into robot mode again and landed on the ground. Spaceflower and Sweetie were both cheering and applauding.

"That was absolutely wonderful, my love," Spaceflower told her boyfriend. "Sweetie couldn't ask for a better teacher."

"Except for _me_, of course," they heard Thundercracker say. "I make an excellent teacher."

"No you don't," Starscream said back. "I didn't see _you_ volunteering for my fake aerial battle demonstration."

"That is because you are simply unworthy," Thundercracker snapped.

Skywarp was cowering…again. "I just didn't want to volunteer because it looked scary! Did you see all those null-rays shooting? I could have gotten shot! I was so scared! And…and I have a fear of heights, too, did you know that?"

"How could you have a fear of heights when you're a fragging Seeker?" Starscream asked, irritated.

"That makes _plenty _of sense," added Ramjet.

"Don't forget, Skywarp, there might be a gorilla hiding somewhere in the forest," Slipstream told him, smirking and gesturing to the nearby forest. "You know gorillas like to live in forests even more than they like to live in basements…right?"

"But gorillas are—"

"Scary, yes." Spaceflower sighed, rolling her optics. "Slipstream is just messing with you, Skywarp. There are no gorillas in the forest. Now, let's just see how well Sweetie can perform these flying maneuvers."

"Okay, Sweetie…transform and rise up!" said Starscream.

Sweetie did. She transformed into a little jet and flew all around the clearing, copying her father's relatively simple moves—the first one she tried out was the barrel roll, and everyone was shocked at how well she did it. She increased her speed and even shot her lasers, pink paint splashing all over the ground.

"Try and catch me, Sweetie!" Spaceflower cried out, and transformed herself. Sweetie laughed and flew after her mother, trying to catch her. Spaceflower was going at a pretty high speed, and Sweetie almost caught her a few times. Finally, though, Spaceflower slowed down. Sweetie transformed into robot mode and hovered in midair, as if to say, "I caught you!"

"Good work, you two," Starscream told them.

"Ha!" Thundercracker scoffed. "Totally not worthy of _my _brilliance."

"Oh, shut up," Spaceflower mumbled.

"I think she's got flying down, though," Starscream told her. "I mean…there's still a lot she could learn…but she knows a lot already."

"What else does a Seeker-in-training have to practice?" Spaceflower asked.

"Next, Sweetie should practice with her weaponry some more," Starscream replied.

…

Starscream, Spaceflower, Thundercracker, Skywarp, Slipstream, Ramjet, Sunstorm and Sweetie were all gathered in the same clearing to help Sweetie practice using her fake weaponry. Sweetie was standing on the ground, and Spaceflower was pointing towards a random tree.

"Now, Sweetie, hit that tree with your gun," Spaceflower explained.

"Okay!" Sweetie replied, and enthusiastically shot her gun right at the tree. Pink paint exploded all over the trunk, and Sweetie laughed.

"Direct hit!" Spaceflower cried happily, rushing to Sweetie to give her a hug. Starscream was applauding, Sunstorm was saying something about how "honored" he was to educate Sweetie, Skywarp was squealing with terror, Slipstream was rolling her optics, and Thundercracker was crossing his arms, probably thinking, _These fools are not worthy_!

"Now for the lasers," Starscream continued. "Who's going to pretend to be the Autobot?"

At this moment he had a disturbing flashback to the musical rehearsals, when _he_ had been forced to be the oppressive Autobot, but he tried to shake it out of his CPU. _The musical ended up going very well_, he reminded himself.

No one volunteered, so Starscream added, "Well, I guess I'm just going to have to pick somebody then."

"Who are you going to pick?" Thundercracker asked disapprovingly.

"Why, you, of course," Starscream replied, like it was obvious. He deserved it, after all.

"_What_?" Thundercracker screeched. "No way!"

"I AM YOUR COMMANDER!" Starscream screeched back. "And you are a clone! Of course you will do it!"

"Go frag yourself," Thundercracker said. "Everyone knows _I _am the original Starscream."

"YOU ARE _NOT_ THE ORIGINAL STARSCREAM!" Starscream yelled. "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT?"

"As many as you like," Thundercracker replied airily. "But that doesn't make it true."

"Of course, I know the _real _reason why you're not doing it," Starscream said. "It's because you're too scared."

"_WHAT_?" yelled Thundercracker. "I fear nothing!"

"Obviously you fear flying, just as Skywarp does," Starscream countered. "Otherwise you would be in the sky right now."

"I'll show _you_ flying, you son-of-a-glitch!" Thundercracker hollered, and soared right into the air. Starscream grinned. His reverse psychology had worked.

As Thundercracker flew around angrily, Starscream bent down next to Sweetie. "Now, Sweetie, pretend he's a flying Autobot and he's trying to attack you. What are you going to do?"

"Shoot lasers?" Sweetie asked uncertainly.

"Yes," Starscream replied. "And your guns, too. In the air, as fast as you can go."

Sweetie took off into the air and shot pink paint repeatedly at the egomaniacal clone, who screeched with fury every time it happened. Sweetie just laughed and chased after him, shooting again and again.

Finally, Thundercracker transformed into robot mode again and landed down on the ground. Sweetie followed, still laughing. Spaceflower ran over to her, picked her up, and squeezed her tight.

"Excellent work!" Spaceflower told the sparkling, looking over at Thundercracker, who was scowling and covered in Sweetie's pink paint. "You know what this means, don't you?"

"Cyberberries?" Sweetie asked hopefully. (If Sweetie performed very well in her training, her parents sometimes gave her candied cyberberries as a reward.)

"You bet!" Spaceflower replied happily. Sweetie cheered and followed her parents and the rest of the seekers into the base again. They were excited for the treat, too.

…

"I have a surprise for you all today," Starscream said, walking out into the main monitor room and holding something behind his back. "This is something I made that will really help Sweetie in her training."

All the Decepticons were there, including Megatron, Lugnut, Blitzwing and Blackarachnia. They were all waiting to see the surprise.

"So what is it?" Megatron asked. "I grow impatient."

"Look!" Starscream held out a mini-droid, about the same size as Sweetie. "It's a practice fighting robot. I built it for Sweetie. It has a very primitive processor and it isn't self-aware, so we don't need to worry about it turning evil or anything."

"What a _fabulous _invention," Sunstorm commented. "I would be most honored if you would tell me what its important purpose is. What does it do?"

"This robot will train Sweetie to fight," Starscream explained. "It will stay at her level at first, but progress as she progresses, too, upgrading itself based on her skills. Eventually, with the help of this fighting drone, she will be able to raise her fighting prowess to a very satisfactory status."

"Let's see a demonstration, then," Megatron said.

"Yes, my liege," Starscream replied. He gently kicked the little robot, and it kicked back. He kicked a little harder; so did the robot. "You see? It adjusts itself to the particular attack moves of its opponent. This way it will never be too hard for Sweetie to learn, but it won't come without a challenge, either."

"You're sure it won't hurt her?" Spaceflower asked, looking worried.

"I've triple-checked it for technical glitches and viruses," Starscream reassured her, "and, like I said, it's at her level. Only when Sweetie moves up a level will the robot upgrade itself, too. It will never be able to hurt her."

"Have Sweetie attack it," Megatron commanded.

"If you're sure," Spaceflower replied, nervously, and led the sparkling to her new fighting drone.

"Remember, the fighting she's learning here is _without _weaponry," Starscream reminded her. "That's an important skill to know."

"What are you waiting for?" Lugnut asked. "Obey Megatron!"

Sweetie kicked the robot, just as Starscream had. The robot kicked her, too. Sweetie threw a tiny fist at it and knocked it down onto the ground. It got up and punched her back—not hard enough to hurt, just hard enough to let her know that, well, it meant business. Sweetie, looking angry, punched her opponent yet again.

"Atta girl!" Starscream yelled. "Destroy that robot!"

"How do we know when the battle is over, my love?" Spaceflower asked.

"Its processor can only take so much in one setting," Starscream told her. "Once it has had enough, its systems will automatically shut down and restart. As it upgrades, its systems will hold out for longer periods of time, making for longer practice battles."

"I see," Spaceflower replied, turning to look at her daughter, still fighting the battle droid. It seemed that she was winning. She was attacking it with relatively standard kicks and punches, and everyone was watching, cheering her on, until finally, the robot collapsed on the ground.

"Bye-bye robot!" Sweetie chirped, waving.

"Great job, Sweetie!" Spaceflower cried. "You beat the robot! You're great at fighting."

"Thank you, Mommy," Sweetie said.

"Don't thank me, thank your daddy," Spaceflower told her. "He's the one who built that robot for you, you know."

"Thank you, Daddy," Sweetie said, hugging Starscream's legs.

…

About one decacycle of training later, everyone was sitting in the kitchen and casually enjoying their breakfast, either energon or motor oil, when Megatron said, "Before Sweetie goes through the Branding Ceremony, I suggest we show her how it works, by means of demonstration."

"An obviously flawed plan," Thundercracker scoffed. "Besides Sweetie, there _are _no new recruits. How are we supposed to have a Branding Ceremony for her to watch?"

"That's why I said 'demonstration', you downgrade," Megatron told him. "We would just be _pretending_. And besides, that way I don't have to heat up the branding iron."

Every Decepticon at the table winced. The branding iron was very painful.

"You think she's ready for branding?" Spaceflower asked.

"Not just yet," the Decepticon leader replied. "But I can tell she will be soon. After breakfast, we will have a…rehearsal, of sorts."

So, once breakfast was over, everyone headed out into the main monitor room, where a real Branding Ceremony would take place. Megatron stood up and said, "Now then…who wants to be the 'new recruit'?"

_Seriously_? Starscream thought. _What kind of idiot would willingly_—?

"I'll do it, oh wise and brilliant Megatron!" Lugnut volunteered, jumping off the couch. "I'd _love_ to!"

"Not _you_, Lugnut," Megatron told him. Quite possibly, Lugnut would mess the whole display up. And Megatron was most likely considering that fact when he dismissed Lugnut. "Now sit down."

"Yes, my liege." Lugnut sat down sadly. "I'm sorry, my liege."

"Silence, fool!" Megatron snapped. "Is there anyone else?"

"I'll do it, my Lord!" Sunstorm called out in his oily voice, waving his arm all around in the air. "It would be an _honor _to perform an important event such as the Fake Branding Ceremony."

"Fine," Megatron said. "Get up here, um—"

"Sunstorm," Sunstorm told him.

"Right, Sunstorm." Megatron shook his head. "Now, the first thing you must do is display your vehicle mode."

Sunstorm quickly transformed into a jet and back.

"Now, demonstrate your weaponry and your special talents."

Sunstorm shot his null-rays (not at Megatron) and then flew around for a little while in robot mode; then, he did the same thing in jet mode.

"You see, I have null-rays," Sunstorm explained, "and I can go quite fast in both vehicle and robot mode. Of course, these meager skills are not worthy of your excellence."

"Perhaps not," Megatron replied. "Nevertheless, we need to continue with the fake ceremony. Next up is the most important part—the part in which you, a new Decepticon recruit, take the Decepticon Oath."

"As you wish, oh brilliant Megatron!"

"Repeat after me," Megatron ordered. "I pledge my unquestioning loyalty to Megatron and the Decepticon cause."

"I pledge my unquestioning loyalty to Megatron and the Decepticon cause," Sunstorm repeated.

"I shall devote my spark to achieving our goal of a Decepticon-controlled Cybertron…by any means necessary."

"I shall devote my spark to achieving our goal of a Decepticon-controlled Cybertron…by any means necessary."

"And annihilate all who have driven us from our rightful home world…"

"And annihilate all who have driven us from our rightful home world…"

"Surrender is _not _an option."

"Surrender is _not _an option."

"Then welcome, new, brave Decepticon," said Megatron, pretending to press the Decepticon branding iron against Sunstorm's wings. Sweetie would have to get branded four times—on both sides of both her wings—and she had no idea what she was in for. Almost everyone felt sympathetic towards her. However, it _was _tradition, and initiation was, well, unquestionable.

Sunstorm was still standing there. "Um…yes, Megatron. I am honored to—"

"For Spark's _sake_, Sunstorm, in all the time I have been online I have never seen such terrible acting!" Megatron thundered. "Act like you really _have _just been scorched by a flaming-hot branding iron!"

Sunstorm looked around for a few cycles, then screamed as loud as he could, falling back on the floor.

"Now rise up and serve your Master!" Megatron hollered.

"Y-Yes, my liege," Sunstorm mumbled, and went back to sit on the couch.

"Surrender is _not _an option!" Sweetie piped up happily.

"Erm…yes, future Decepticon, that is correct," Megatron told her. Even he looked surprised.

"At Sweetie's ceremony, we're also going to have candied cyberberries and low-grade motor oil," Spaceflower cooed, kissing Sweetie on the head.

"And, for the not-so-young 'Cons, some free, high-grade energon," Starscream added enthusiastically.

"Candied cyberberries and low-grade motor oil?" Lugnut looked shocked. "Megatron, I didn't know you liked those things."

"I _don_'_t _like those things and I never will," Megatron snapped.

"Candied cyberberries are Sweetie's favorites," Spaceflower explained. "And we figured she would want something to drink, too."

"So, Megatron, when do you think Sweetie will be ready?" Starscream asked.

"Perhaps after another lunar cycle we shall see where she stands," Megatron replied. "For now, let us continue her training, for her usefulness to me as both a Decepticon and a Seeker seems most promising."


	4. Welcome, Brave Decepticon

_About one lunar cycle _(_or_, _one Earth month_) _later_…

Sweetie's training, it appeared, was complete. She could, for the most part, talk in complete sentences now, and she had learned how to teleport and use her fake weapons. She knew some fighting skills, thanks to the fighting drone, and, of course, she could walk, transform and fly.

This meant, of course, that it was time for them all to start planning her Branding Ceremony. They found themselves discussing it over their breakfast energon and motor oil one morning.

"So," Megatron said, sipping his energon thoughtfully, "I think it's time I enlisted Sweetie into my ranks."

Everyone looked over at Sweetie, but she just continued slurping her motor oil, not saying anything.

"There's a lot we need to do," Megatron continued. "You see, before Sweetie gets branded, we need to give her some real weapons. I can talk to Swindle about that. And she needs a new paint job, too. We probably have some spare paint somewhere in the base. She's old enough to choose what colors she wants. Starscream and Spaceflower, you are in charge of obtaining the candied cyberberries and low-grade motor oil. Blitzwing, you make sure we have enough energon."

"What can I do, my Lord?" asked Lugnut, leaning forward eagerly.

"Erm…" Megatron paused, thinking. "Lugnut, could you make sure the Autobots don't disturb the Ceremony in any way?"

"I will not fail you, my Lord," Lugnut replied. "Now…shall we get you more energon?"

"Lugnut, I do not _need _more energon!" Megatron looked exasperated.

"Anyway, the first thing we should do, I think, is get Sweetie her new paint job," Spaceflower said. "I'll find our spare spray paint."

…

Starscream, Spaceflower and Sweetie rummaged around in the base until, in an old, seemingly deserted room, they found the Decepticons' spare cans of spray paint. Starscream couldn't help thinking of that time back on the Elite Guard ship when he and Spaceflower had been forced to spray-paint themselves as Autobots, so long ago now. _Ah_, _memories_…

"Now, Sweetie, what colors would you like?" Spaceflower asked, holding up several random cans of paint.

"I like this paint!" Sweetie shrieked, holding up two cans of paint—one dark red, the other dark orange. (For the most part, Decepticons have to be painted dark colors.)

"Are you ready for your makeover, then?" Spaceflower asked.

"Yes!" Sweetie replied.

Spaceflower sprayed Sweetie's body, top to bottom, with the red spray paint. She then sprayed her wings mostly orange, adding one red stripe across both.

"Oh, you look so cute!" Spaceflower told the sparkling, but she didn't hug her, since the paint was still wet. "Once the paint is dry we can go out into the main monitor room and show everybody else your new look."

"Okay!" Sweetie replied.

So, as promised, the three of them went out into the main monitor room as soon as Sweetie's new paint job was dried. Starscream and Spaceflower entered the room before Sweetie did.

"Prepared to be amazed by…" Starscream began dramatically.

"…Sweetie's fabulous makeover!" Spaceflower finished, gesturing towards the doorway.

At this signal, Sweetie walked confidently into the room, proudly displaying her new paint job. Everyone was clapping.

"Brilliant paint job, just _brilliant_!" Sunstorm told Sweetie. "I couldn't have chosen better colors myself!"

"I know I could have," Thundercracker declared. "It's absolutely _hideous_."

"It's _so_ ugly!" Ramjet added enthusiastically.

"Sweetie, why did you choose orange and red?" asked Skywarp. "Do you know how scary those colors are?"

"Why are they scary?" Sweetie was looking confused.

"Because they're the colors of fire!" Skywarp screamed. "And fire is scary!"

"I'm not scared," Sweetie replied. "I like my new paint job."

"We do too," Spaceflower and Starscream said at the same time, and hugged their daughter.

…

There was, yet again, a knock on the door, and the Decepticons saw that it was none other than Swindle, here again, only this time to sell Sweetie some real weapons, not fake ones.

"Nice new paint job," Swindle commented, catching sight of Sweetie's makeover. "I like it."

"Thank you," said Sweetie.

"Do you have those weapons I ordered, Swindle?" asked Megatron, walking up to Swindle and pulling out his credit download.

"Battle-grade lasers and attachable guns?" Swindle grinned. "You got it, Megatron."

"Megatron ordered _battle_-_grade _lasers?" Spaceflower shrieked.

"Of course I did," Megatron replied. "Sweetie isn't going to be a sparkling forever, Spaceflower."

"Well, she might be growing up, but I'm still her mother, and…and I just want her to be safe," Spaceflower said, looking upset again.

Swindle, on the other hand, looked quite pleased, probably because battle-grade lasers are the most expensive kind. He handed over the guns and the lasers, Megatron paid, and he left.

Spaceflower tightly squeezed Starscream's claw as they watched Megatron remove the "practice" weapons from Sweetie, and then attach the real ones. He attached the lasers to the fronts of both her servos and the guns to the tops of her arms, and then guided her to the middle of the room.

"Now, shoot your lasers at the ceiling," Megatron told her.

At this point, Sweetie was quite good at shooting her lasers, so when she shot at the ceiling, the lasers struck their target, and _only _their target. She did the same with the guns, and she had great aim with those, too. Everyone was clapping for her.

"I like these," Sweetie said happily. "Much better than the paint."

"Sweetie, you know there are some times when you should use them, and some times when you shouldn't, right?" Spaceflower asked nervously.

"Of course, Mommy," Sweetie replied, walking up to Spaceflower and giving her a hug. "Don't shoot at fellow Decepticons…only Autobots, in battle. Don't worry, I know."

"Good job." Spaceflower kissed Sweetie on the head and sniffed.

…

Finally, the day had come—the day of Sweetie's Branding Ceremony. Everyone could smell the smoke as Megatron heated up the branding iron. Blitzwing was gathering up the energon, Starscream was gathering up the low-grade motor oil, and Spaceflower was gathering up candied cyberberries. Sweetie was practicing for the ceremony.

"Poor Sweetie," Spaceflower said, as she put some candied cyberberries on a table. "I hope it doesn't hurt her too much."

"It only hurts for a few megacycles," Starscream replied. "My wings got branded four times too, remember? And I'm still here."

"Yes, but your wings are still very sensitive," Spaceflower reminded him.

"She's going to be fine," Starscream insisted. "Finish putting those candied cyberberries out, my love. She'll need them more than your worried CPU."

"Well…okay." Spaceflower still looked worried, but continued working on the candied cyberberries arrangement. Starscream set up the motor oil, and Blitzwing put out the energon cubes.

Sweetie was still practicing. She had her old fighting drone, which had advanced, just as she had. She was also flying, shooting her weapons (not at anyone, of course) and teleporting—basically, practicing everything she knew how to do. This solar cycle, the solar cycle of the Branding Ceremony, was the solar cycle in which she would announce that she was no longer a sparkling.

After several cycles of this, Megatron himself walked into the room with Lugnut following, holding the scorching-hot branding iron in one of his huge servos.

"Where are the Seekers and Blackarachnia?" Megatron asked impatiently.

"I don't know," Starscream replied, shrugging.

"I'll go find them," Spaceflower volunteered. "I'll be right back."

"Now, Sweetie, you know what you need to do this solar cycle, right?" Starscream asked, bending down next to Sweetie, who was, at this moment, practicing with her fighting drone.

"I know, Daddy," Sweetie told him. "I watched Uncle Sunstorm and Megatron, remember?"

"You'll be a Seeker, just like me." Starscream patted her on the head and turned around to see Spaceflower, returning, with Blackarachnia and the Seekers in tow.

"Everyone's here, I do believe," Spaceflower told Megatron. She still looked a little nervous, but like she was trying to hide it.

"So, let's begin," Megatron said. "First thing…Sweetie, show me your vehicle mode."

Sweetie transformed into a small, red-and-orange jet and flew all around the room, incredibly fast. Finally, she transformed back into robot mode, landed, and stood in front of Megatron again.

"Now…what weapons and skills have you got?" Megatron asked.

"I can teleport, fight, shoot lasers, shoot guns, _and _fly!" Sweetie replied.

"Display."

_POP_! Sweetie teleported to the other side of the room, next to her parents, and back to her initial spot. Then she teleported to her fighting drone and attacked it, using her now very advanced fighting moves on it until finally, it collapsed on the ground. Then she pointed her lasers up at the ceiling, shot them with perfect (or at least near-perfect) aim, and did the same with her guns to the floor.

Everyone was clapping as she turned on the rocket thrusters on her feet and soared all around the room in robot mode, laughing as she did so. She transformed into vehicle mode and did the same. Then, finally, she turned back into a robot, landed on the ground, and teleported back to Megatron.

"Now, get down on one knee," Megatron ordered. "You shall take the Decepticon Oath, get branded, officially join my ranks, and become a Seeker."

"I can't wait to become a Seeker!" Sweetie got down on one knee.

"Yes, I know," Megatron said and, just as he had done with Sunstorm, "Repeat after me…I pledge my unquestioning loyalty to Megatron and the Decepticon cause."

"I pledge my unquestioning loyalty to Megatron and the Decepticon cause," Sweetie repeated and looked up, smiling.

"I shall devote my spark to achieving our goal of a Decepticon-controlled Cybertron…by any means necessary."

"I shall devote my spark to achieving our goal of a Decepticon-controlled Cybertron…by any means necessary."

"And annihilate all who have driven us from our rightful home world…"

"And annihilate all who have driven us from our rightful home world…"

"Surrender is _not _an option."

"Surrender is _not _an option!"

"Welcome, brave Decepticon Seeker." Sweetie stood up and Megatron gestured for the branding iron. Lugnut handed it over. Spaceflower turned away and Starscream winced as Megatron clamped one servo on Sweetie's shoulder to hold her still and pressed the branding iron onto the front of her left wing.

Sweetie, not expecting this, screeched in pain. She hadn't screamed that loud since she was just a tiny protoform, not even sleeping through the nights yet. Everyone, understanding what Sweetie was going through, was either turning away, wincing, or covering their audio receptors (or all three, simultaneously). Spaceflower looked in almost as much pain as Sweetie herself, who was still screaming loud as can be.

Megatron, still holding his branding iron with one servo and Sweetie's shoulder with the other, quickly pressed the branding iron onto the back of Sweetie's left wing and onto both sides of her right wing. And then, finally, it was over.

Sweetie gave one last scream and then they realized she was crying, quietly. She was in great pain right now.

Spaceflower, looking anguished, ran up to Blitzwing. "She needs some ice!"

Blitzwing shot some ice into Spaceflower's servos, and Spaceflower quickly pressed the ice onto Sweetie's wings, which were still smoking.

"Thanks," Sweetie said in a shaky voice, lifting her head up and wiping her eyes.

"Now, Sweetie, take the ice off for one cycle," Megatron ordered, "and I will appoint you as a Seeker."

"Does it…does it involve more burning?" Sweetie asked nervously.

"No, it doesn't," Starscream reassured her. "Don't worry, Sweetie."

Spaceflower took the ice off her daughter's wings and stood back beside Starscream, still looking concerned. Sweetie turned her head to look at her wings, which were now branded with the purple Decepticon insignia. She looked more than a little shocked, and kept staring until Megatron finally spoke again.

"Sweetie, during the midst of this Branding Ceremony, I officially appoint you as a member of the Decepticon Seeker Forces," Megatron said to Sweetie. "Do you accept?"

"I accept, my liege," Sweetie responded, standing up as straight as she could, despite the considerable pain she was experiencing.

"Then welcome to Seeker-dom!" Starscream yelled happily, running up to Sweetie and giving her a hug (carefully avoiding the wings, though). "You made the right choice!"

"Here's your ice, Sweetie." Spaceflower hugged Sweetie, too, then put the ice on her wings again. "Now, I suppose you could go for some candied cyberberries and motor oil?"

"Yes, I could," Sweetie agreed.

Everyone was at the "refreshments" table, drinking either energon or motor oil. Skywarp was drinking motor oil but avoiding the energon and the cyberberries (both of them were _very_ scary). Starscream drank some energon, and so did Spaceflower; Sweetie got herself some motor oil, since she was still a little young for energon. Once she was done drinking the oil, she grabbed a bunch of cyberberries and stuck them in her mouth.

"You really are a Decepticon, now," Spaceflower said to Sweetie, between sips of energon. "What do you think of that?"

"I think it's great," Sweetie replied, pointing to the Decepticon insignia on her wings. "It still really hurts, though."

"Well, it'll stop hurting after a few megacycles," Starscream assured her. "You'll be fine. And congratulations."


	5. Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now

_About one lunar cycle after the Branding Ceremony_…

"I have good news," Sweetie said, walking into her parents' room. "Since I'm grown up now, I get to have my own room."

"Really?" Starscream asked. "Megatron let you have your own room?"

"Yes," Sweetie replied. "I'm much too big to sleep in that old cradle any more. You know that. I don't even fit in it any more."

Sweetie was still small, but she was a lot bigger now than she was when she was first protoformed. When she was just protoformed she was hardly any bigger than one of Starscream's claws; now, she was almost as tall as Autobot Bumblebee (who was pretty short himself, but Sweetie was probably going to get taller).

Most of that solar cycle was spent setting up Sweetie's new room. Blitzwing, Starscream, Spaceflower and Sweetie moved most of Sweetie's things to the new room, except for the toys she didn't play with any more and the cradle, which was stowed away in an old storage room. Replacing the cradle was a normal bed, similar to the kind everybody else slept in, only a little smaller. Sweetie seemed so excited about her new room.

"I love this!" she cried. "I'm so happy I finally get to have my own room."

"Megatron said you still have to share a bathroom with Starscream and Spaceflower, though," Blitzwing told her, in Icy face mode; then he switched to Hothead and yelled, "And do not complain about it! I am the one who has to share a bathroom with Lugnut!"

"_That_ must be annoying," Sweetie said.

"More than you know," Blitzwing replied.

"Megatron is the _only _one who has his own bathroom," Starscream reminded them; and then, rather sarcastically, "Because he's so high-ranking."

"No, Blackarachnia gets to have her own," Spaceflower contradicted. "I shared with her when we were roommates but once I moved out she got her own."

"You roomed with Blackarachnia, Mom?" asked Sweetie, who was now sitting on her new bed and swinging her legs. "I thought you two hated each other."

"We do," Spaceflower told her. "But I didn't move in with Starscream until you were protoformed."

"Remember the musical?" Starscream asked, grinning at the memory.

"How could I forget?" Spaceflower replied. "Remember the Cybertronian battle scene? My favorite scene."

"I thought the finale scene was your favorite."

"Well, that was before you took Blitzwing's part," Spaceflower explained, smiling.

Starscream smiled back. "I never knew that, my love."

"Sing with me, one last time!" Spaceflower jokingly echoed her line from the musical.

"I'll…I'll try, my dear," Starscream replied, then burst into laughter.

"Remember the energon party?" Spaceflower continued.

"Of course!" Starscream told her. "And remember how drunk Blitzwing got?"

Spaceflower giggled. "He found his armor eventually, didn't he?"

"HEY!" Sweetie shouted. "You know I don't like it when you guys talk about weird stuff that happened before I was protoformed. And what is up with that stupid musical? Everyone says stuff about a musical that happened a long time ago, but I never have any idea what they're talking about."

"You see, Sweetie, before you were protoformed, and I had just arrived here, all of us Decepticons were in a musical called _The Decepticon Cause_," Spaceflower explained.

"That's weird," said Sweetie.

"Yeah, it was pretty weird," Starscream agreed. "But that's because Megatron wrote it. And anyway, it was actually a lot of fun."

"Good times," Spaceflower said wistfully. "Good times."

_That night_…

Before Sweetie got her new room the Seekers had been separated into the base's two guest rooms, but now that one of the guest rooms had become Sweetie's room, all five of them were crammed into the last spare room.

"That room is much too inferior," Thundercracker had complained once. "It's so small I can hardly turn around."

"Then go sleep on a table," Megatron had replied apathetically, not even looking up from his energon.

Skywarp was also scared of sharing a room with anyone, because of germs. He said, "If too many of us sleep in the same room at the same time, germs will spread like wildfire!"

There was a very loud argument every single night about who would get the bed (and who would have to sleep on the floor). Thundercracker declared that he should get the bed _every_ night, because of his superiority; Skywarp always wanted the floor because he was scared of heights. Slipstream insisted they should trade off, but that didn't solve anything.

So, that very night, Starscream and Spaceflower laid in their bed together, now all alone again, listening to the Seekers' arguing; to Lugnut's "Megatron fantasies"; to the sound of the TV in the main monitor room (it wasn't Sweetie's bedtime yet, so she was still watching TV).

"What's Sweetie watching?" Starscream asked.

"Some Cybertronian reality show," Spaceflower replied. "It's this show where they pick some Autobot who's a real disaster area—you know, ugly paint job, bad weapons, et cetera—and give him a makeover."

"Oh, I _hate_ that show," said Starscream. "Isn't it on one of the Autobot channels?"

Spaceflower nodded. "The Seekers' TV gets over 500 channels, Starscream…so we get most of the Autobot channels, and all the Decepticon channels. Even a few human channels. I checked."

"I mostly avoid watching the Autobot channels we get," Starscream told her. "But I've found that the ones I _have _watched are pretty bad. I like the Decepticon channels better—there was this one movie I watched about a group of Decepticons training at Autobot Academy, and all they did for the whole movie was play obnoxious pranks, have crazy energon parties, and raise holy hell. It was hilarious."

"Oh, yeah, I saw that movie." Spaceflower laughed. "It _was _funny. The human channels are really weird, though."

"Yeah," Starscream agreed. "I don't know why we even get them."

Right at that moment, they heard, from the main monitor room, a huge, collective scream.

"That's just the end of the show," Spaceflower explained. "You know, when the Autobot is done with his makeover and he shows it to his friends. They always scream because they're so surprised."

They heard Sweetie turning off the TV, then, and coming up the stairs. Before she went to sleep in her brand-new room, she poked her head into her parents' room.

"See you in the morning, Mom and Dad," she told them, smiling. "Goodnight."

…

That afternoon, all the Decepticons were gathered in the main monitor room and watching one of the Decepticon channels. It was one of Megatron's favorites—something the humans called a "horror movie".

"This movie isn't all that scary," Megatron said.

"Are you kidding?" Skywarp whimpered, clutching a pillow to his chestplate. "This is the scariest movie I've ever seen! Especially the zombie army! Did you see the way they devoured those Autobots? Terrifying!"

"Uh-oh, Skywarp!" Thundercracker teased. "Let's hope the zombies don't attack in the middle of the night! You know they like to feed on Seekers, right?"

"Shut up, Thundercracker," Slipstream told him. "Zombies aren't real."

"What's _that _thing?" Skywarp shrieked.

"It's the evil monster," Megatron replied airily. "He's ten feet tall and made out of offline Autobots. After the zombies eat the Autobots, the monster eats the zombies. I've seen this movie before."

"I…I think I just sprung an oil leak." Skywarp clutched his pillow closer.

"Maybe you shouldn't be watching this movie, Skywarp," Sweetie told him. (Sweetie had insisted on watching the horror movie, despite being a little young. After all, as she pointed out, Skywarp _was _a lot more likely to have nightmares than she was.)

They heard a _ROAR_! and the monster started to eat the zombies ruthlessly. Skywarp was screaming now, even though it was just a movie, and that's when they heard a pounding at the door.

"OPEN UP!" They recognized the voice of Ultra Magnus, right outside their base. "This is the Elite Guard!"

Megatron looked serious. "Remember, surrender is _not _an option. If we go offline, we go offline with courage."

Ultra Magnus smashed open the base door with his hammer. "Megatron, you and your subordinates are under arrest! Come quietly and we may let you stay online!"

"We'll _never_ go down without a fight!" Thundercracker said, holding up his arms, prepared to fire his null-rays. "The Cybertron Elite Guard could never match _my _fighting prowess."

With that Thundercracker started firing. Jazz whipped out his numchucks and swung them at him, knocking him onto the ground.

Sentinel Prime walked up to Spaceflower with a scowl. Spaceflower scowled right back.

"Don't think I've forgotten you, Decepticon scum," Sentinel snarled.

"Too bad," Spaceflower replied. "Don't start, Sentinel, I'm not in the mood."

Sentinel scoffed. "Ha! I could never get beaten up by a femme."

"Well, Sentinel, I do fight like a femme," Spaceflower snarled, and kicked him right in his oversized chin. Sentinel yelled and swung at her with his sword, but she nimbly dodged. Spaceflower turned her servos into guns and shot at his chestplate, but he held up his shield.

Spaceflower, realizing she couldn't use her guns when he was holding the shield up, quickly started singing in her beautiful soprano. Sentinel looked confused for a few moments, until he smiled hazily and collapsed to the floor.

Sweetie, meanwhile, was running headlong into battle, guns firing.

"No!" Spaceflower gently grabbed Sweetie's wing and pulled her back. "Sweetie, stay out of this battle."

"Wha—Mom, you _have _to stop treating me like a sparkling!" Sweetie insisted. "I can _take _this!"

"Listen to me, Sweetie." Spaceflower's voice was shaky as she set her servos on her daughter's shoulders. "I don't want you to get hurt. I'm your mother and I care about you."

"Well, you sure have an odd way of showing it," Sweetie said back. "Mom, I might be small, but I can still fight Autobots. I got branded. I can fly. I can teleport. I got real weapons from Swindle, even battle-grade lasers. I'm not a sparkling any more. I can _do _this."

"But—" Spaceflower might have been about to say something, but Sweetie cut her off.

"Megatron!" Sweetie called out. "Can I help fight?"

"I _order_ you to help fight!" Megatron hollered back. (Right now, he was in the middle of a very fierce battle with Ultra Magnus.) "We need all the help we can get!"

"See, Mom?" Sweetie said. "Megatron thinks I'm big enough."

"Just…just be careful, Sweetie." Spaceflower hugged Sweetie tight. "Remember, I love you with all my spark."

"I love you too, Mom," Sweetie whispered; then they broke the hug and Sweetie continued running—until she smacked right into Sentinel Prime, who had just awakened from his little "nap".

"Hey, watch it!" Sentinel yelled.

"Prepare to face my wrath, Autobot scum!" Sweetie said menacingly.

"How could a little sparkling like you hurt me?" Sentinel laughed. "When were you protoformed, yesterday?"

"_You_'_re _going to regret the day _you _were protoformed!" Sweetie screamed, and shot both her lasers right at his chest. Sentinel, caught off guard, doubled over. Sweetie kicked him in the leg and, once he was holding his leg and cursing, she flew up and whacked him right in the face.

Sentinel was swinging his sword at her, just as he had done with Spaceflower, but she was teleporting back and forth; he didn't come close to hitting her. Still in the air, she shot her guns at him from above, easily escaping his blows.

"Come back here, you little pest!" Sentinel hollered.

"You call this a fight?" Sweetie giggled. "Fight like a Decepticon, why don't you?"

Screaming with rage, Sentinel swung his sword at Sweetie once more. She swiftly shot her guns at him again, this time hitting him in the chestplate and blasting him right into the TV. Unfortunately, the mixture of Sweetie's guns and Sentinel's girth caused the TV to fall right off the table, but the good part was that it fell right on top of Sentinel, knocking him out cold.

"Sweetie, one; random huge-chinned Autobot I've never met, zero." Sweetie, still hovering in the air, grinned and flew off.

Meanwhile, Starscream and the other Seekers (except Thundercracker, who was still passed out, and Skywarp, who was squealing and hiding behind the couch) were flying around and shooting at the Elite Guard down on the floor. Sweetie flew over to them and started shooting her lasers.

"_Sweetie_?" asked Starscream, still firing his null-rays.

"Yes, it's me," Sweetie replied. "I'm a Seeker too now, remember?"

"Then keep shooting!" Starscream yelled. "And don't let them shoot you back!"

Sweetie flew up and shot her guns repeatedly, as the rest of the Seekers did the same.

The scene was incredible. All kinds of shots from all kinds of weapons were flying everywhere; Megatron was shooting blast after blast out of his cannon; there were continuous screams, moans and yells of pain and anger reverberating throughout the room; someone (either accidentally or on purpose) shot the couch to pieces to reveal a terrified Skywarp, who flew into the air, screaming and dodging blasts from both Decepticon and Autobot weaponry.

Finally, there was a shock of lightning and the cry, "SILENCE!"

Instantaneously, all the shooting, screaming and fighting stopped. Everyone looked at Ultra Magnus, who was holding up the Magnus Hammer with one servo and holding a small white flag in the other.

"We are outnumbered, injured and one of our comrades is down," Ultra Magnus said. "Thus, we give today's battle to you, Megatron….but we will be back. The battle may be over, but the war is not."

"Do your worst, Autobot," Megatron said back. "I accept your surrender. Now leave my base at once."

Ultra Magnus lifted the (now broken) TV off Sentinel and carried him out, with Jazz following, and the three Elite Guard members left.

For one moment, there was dead silence in the room, until finally Sweetie said, "Well, I guess we're going to have to get a new TV."

Starscream started laughing, Megatron sighed in exasperation, and Skywarp started crying. Spaceflower flew as fast as she could over to her boyfriend and daughter, wrapping them both up in her arms.

"I'm sorry I underestimated you, Sweetie," she whispered.

"You fought very bravely today," Starscream added.

"Thanks." Sweetie smiled. "You guys both fought bravely, too."

Meanwhile, Lugnut and Blitzwing were lifting the TV back on the table, even though it was obviously broken.

"Who broke the TV?" Blitzwing asked.

"Um…I did." Sweetie sheepishly raised one servo in the air. "I was fighting Sentinel and I blasted him into the TV."

"Wow," said Lugnut.

"Good job," added Blitzwing.

"I do not give out compliments to just anyone, Sweetie," Megatron finished, "but I must say, you really _are _a true Decepticon now."

_That night_…

Everyone was sitting in the main monitor room, talking. Megatron had ordered a new TV from Swindle, and since the couch was gone, anyone who wanted to sit down either sat down on the floor or on a couch pillow that had survived the battle. Skywarp, hysterical, was still squeezing his pillow, with Sweetie sympathetically patting his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Uncle Skywarp," she assured him. "The battle's over now. We won."

Skywarp nodded, trembling, but didn't say anything.

"And everything's fine, my love," Spaceflower said to Starscream.

"Such as it is, yes." Starscream put his arm around her; she leaned into him and closed her optics.

"So that was the Cybertron Elite Guard?" Sweetie asked.

"Yes," Megatron replied. "Autobot scum…"

"Know what the weird thing is, though?" Sweetie continued. "Even though I never even met the Elite Guard before today—much less battled them—I feel like I _have _encountered them before, long ago. They just seemed so familiar…Isn't that crazy?"

Starscream and Spaceflower looked at each other and smiled, remembering how Sweetie, when she was very young, had been captured by the Elite Guard. Only by dressing up as her "Autobot" parents had Starscream and Spaceflower had been able to rescue her.

"Not that crazy," Starscream told Sweetie, Spaceflower squeezed his claw, and he squeezed back.


	6. Invitation

_About two Earth weeks later_…

The Decepticons were watching their brand-new TV, delivered days ago by Swindle. This one got over _800 _channels, some of which were even in different languages. It had a seventy-two inch screen, the quality was better, it had a DVD/VCR player and surround sound speakers, and the TV was much more expensive, but everybody involved agreed that it was worth it.

"Besides," Starscream said, when Megatron wasn't listening, "it's Megatron's money, not mine."

They usually fought over which channel to watch, but Megatron declined Swindle's suggestion that he buy _two _(or more) TVs. Eventually, Blitzwing casually pointed out that there _was _a recording system on the TV, after all, so they _could _watch one program while recording another, and then watch it later.

Unfortunately at this moment they were sitting through some tedious commercials on one of the Decepticon channels (human, Autobot, orDecepticon, _every_ channel had commercials).

"Do your wings always hurt?" one sleazy-looking sales-bot was saying. "Do you wish you could fly better? Do you wish your wings could be as attractive as everyone else's? Then you need my…SUPER SEEKER MIRACLE CREAM!"

"Starscream, is this the Seeker Channel?" Megatron asked suspiciously.

"One of them," Starscream answered casually.

They looked at the screen, where a very attractive Seeker with wings in perfect shape was standing next to the sales-bot.

"I was desperately in need of an upgrade before I started using Super Seeker Miracle Cream," he said. (Just to see how badly he had needed that upgrade, up popped a picture of an incredibly ugly Seeker with severely damaged wings, looking miserable).

"What happened after?" the sales-bot asked.

"Well, not only did my wings never hurt again, but I was able to fly so much better, and since I was so attractive, the other Decepticons didn't ignore me any more!" the client said happily. "I found my spark-mate, and she is simply infatuated with me! I made more friends and got a promotion and even figured out the meaning of life!"

"I think that proves my point," the sales-bot replied. "So order _your _Super Seeker Miracle Cream…today!"

"How _dare _he suggest I need his Super Seeker Miracle Cream!" Thundercracker yelled, sounding insulted and angry. "I am perfect the way I am!"

"Well, erm, at least you're confident," Sweetie giggled.

"What's _that _supposed to mean, you little brat?" Thundercracker hollered.

"Don't you dare call my daughter a brat!" Spaceflower screamed.

"Sweetie is an _angel_," Sunstorm added. "Perfect in every way."

"Um, thank you, Sunstorm," Sweetie said, smiling slightly.

"Hmm…looks like this program's almost over," Spaceflower commented, looking at the screen. The commercials were over, and the credits were playing.

"Ew," Starscream added. "Looks like 'Seeker Daily Drama' is on next."

"What do you want to watch, my liege?" Lugnut suddenly asked Megatron.

"I don't know," said Megatron. "But nobody wants to watch 'Seeker Daily Drama'."

Just then they heard knocking at their door again.

"I hope it's not the Elite Guard again," Spaceflower whispered into Starscream's audio receptor. Starscream nodded and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

"Answer the door, Lugnut," Megatron ordered.

"Yes, my Lord!" Lugnut jumped up from the floor (they still hadn't gotten a new couch yet) and opened the door a crack.

"_Well_?" Megatron asked. "Who is it?"

"Nobody's there," Lugnut replied. "But we got a letter."

Lugnut brought the letter into the main monitor room and handed the letter to his Master. Megatron opened the letter and, after reading a bit, he looked pretty shocked.

"Who's it from?" Starscream asked. "It isn't from the Elite Guard, is it?"

"No…" Megatron handed the letter to Starscream. "It's actually from Optimus Prime. Read it."

_Dear Megatron and other Decepticons_,

_We would be honored if you would come to our big party in a couple of solar cycles_, _at our base in Detroit_. _We promise that there will be no battling_, _for we all agreed that battling is not something that should happen at a party_, _and we realized that we don_'_t care for Autobots_-_only parties any more_. _We will have free refreshments_ _and we also wanted to know if Spaceflower_, _the femme who sang in that musical so long ago_, _would be willing to provide live music_. _We have never heard a better singer_. _Please RSVP as soon as you can_!

_With all due respect_,

_Optimus Prime and Co_.

_P_._S_. _If it_'_s not too much trouble_, _could you also bring some of your special Decepticon oil_? _Everyone_'_s in love with it_!

"They want me to provide live music?" Spaceflower shrieked. "Of course I will!"

"Mom, Dad, can I please go?" Sweetie pleaded. "This will be my first party ever!"

"Well…" Starscream looked at Megatron questioningly.

"Don't look at me," Megatron said. "She's not my daughter."

"I suppose we could let you go," Spaceflower told Sweetie pensively. "Just don't do anything irresponsible, okay Sweetie?"

"Okay," Sweetie replied. "Thanks!"

"_I_'_m_ not going," Skywarp whimpered. "Parties are…are terrifying!"

"How?" asked Sweetie. "I'm so excited!"

"There's all that loud music, flashing lights, everybody getting drunk, free refreshments…" Skywarp clutched his pillow fearfully.

"How in Primus can free refreshments be scary, Skywarp?" Starscream asked, feeling irritated.

"Because it's a near impossibility to leave the free refreshments table without feeling bloated!" Skywarp answered, looking like he was going to burst into tears. "And—and I hate feeling bloated!"

"Well, then don't go near the refreshments," Megatron told him. "And nobody's going to get drunk. Autobot-hosted parties are always energon-free."

"Oh, slag," Sweetie muttered.

"Well, you wouldn't be allowed to have any energon anyway, Sweetie," Spaceflower informed her daughter. "Maybe when you're older."

Sweetie sighed. "Yeah, I know."

"Energon is _scary_!" Skywarp insisted.

"I really hope you'll go to the party, Uncle Skywarp," Sweetie told him. "It would be so much more fun."

"Yeah, I agree," Spaceflower said. "After all, isn't staying home at the base all alone a little…_scary_?"

"YES!" Skywarp cried, then he really did burst into tears. "Okay! I'll come with you!"

"Is everybody else going?" Megatron asked. "I figured I should have Starscream write the RSVP as soon as possible."

"What?" Starscream yelled. "I am SO NOT writing the RSVP."

"Yes you are," Megatron said. "I'm certainly not going to do it. I'm a very busy Decepticon and I have more important things to do than write RSVP letters to Autobot repair crews."

"If you make me write the RSVP, I'll tell them you said that," Starscream told Megatron.

"Just let me write the RSVP, my love," Spaceflower said to Starscream, her soothing voice calming him down a bit.

"Erm…okay…" Starscream felt a little drowsy now. "Whatever you want…"

Starscream wanted to kiss her right then but usually they didn't kiss in front of Sweetie, mostly because, as she put it, it "grossed her out". And of course the Decepticon army in its entirety was here, so an impromptu make-out session probably wouldn't have been a good idea, anyway.

"Well, since everybody's going, I'll just go into my quarters and start writing the RSVP letter right now," Spaceflower said. "Starscream, do you want to come help?"

"Of course!" Starscream followed Spaceflower into the hallway as quickly as he could. Of course, everyone probably knew Starscream and Spaceflower weren't going to be writing the RSVP letter at all, but really, at that moment, the two of them didn't much care.


	7. Spark Mates

Starscream and Spaceflower walked into their room; Starscream locked the door and sat down on the bed.

"So…do you really want to go to that party?" Starscream asked. "Autobot parties are a whole lot lamer than Decepticon parties."

"Well, you're obviously biased," Spaceflower replied. "Anyway…there are more factors than the affiliation and location that determine whether or not I have fun at a party."

Spaceflower smiled and slowly ran her fingers down Starscream's leg, all the way to his knee, then back up again. Starscream gently grasped her claw in his and pulled her into a deep, romantic kiss, stroking her wings with his free claw. She was caressing his thighs again, and he held her tighter, enjoying the small yet powerful tingling feeling coursing throughout his entire body.

"I love it when you do that," Starscream whispered, pulling away from the kiss for one split second.

"How can I resist these sexy Seeker legs?" Spaceflower purred, slipping her fingers in between her boyfriend's thighs.

Starscream could feel himself beginning to pressurize—made even better this time, coupled with the realization that 'facing was soon to come. Spaceflower lightly brushed her fingers along the area where Starscream's wings were attached to his back (another one of his hot spots). He wrapped both arms around her waist, pulling her closer and drawing her into an even more passionate kiss.

Spaceflower softly broke the kiss and leaned her head against his chestplate, one servo on his wings, the other gently linked with Starscream's. He opened his optics and kissed her forehead, hugging her tight. Her optics were closed and one servo was absentmindedly tracing his right wingflap, inducing a wave of intense pleasure all the way down to his feet.

As gently as he could, Starscream ran two fingers alongside her waist and down to her hips, following the natural peaks and valleys. She was so elegantly curvy, so voluptuous—the most well-assembled Decepticon he had ever encountered and ever would encounter. He slipped his fingers into her tight valve, smiling when she mewled with (pleasant) surprise.

"I'll always love you, Spaceflower…always…" Starscream's voice was barely above a whisper as he took his fingers out of her valve and stroked her back and wings.

Spaceflower looked up and smiled slightly. "No need for words. If your mouth is closed but your spark is open, there is nothing wrong."

"Should I…should I open mine then?" Starscream asked her.

"My love, I don't see anyone here without an open spark," Spaceflower replied.

Starscream thought he actually felt his "open" spark melt a little. Spaceflower smiled even wider, took his head into her servos, and delicately pressed her lips against his. He felt her touch and imagined how she felt his; he continued to run his servos up and down her body as she placed her arms around his neck. Starscream deepened the kiss, losing himself in the passion and love, spark beating furiously fast, until finally the two of them sat up and separated their lips.

Starscream took her servos in his and felt the Skywarp inside him cowering in fear as a very romantic thought entered his processor. The question was…should he say it out loud?

Finally, Starscream, still feeling nervous, blurted out, "Spaceflower…do you—do you think we could be…spark-mates?"

He winced, turning away, afraid she would say no. That hadbeen a very "magical" kiss, and they had been together a very long time, and they had had a sparkling (albeit an accidental one), and no matter how many times they kissed or pawed at each other or interfaced, it _still _never lost its novelty—but that didn't necessarily mean she felt the energy too…didit?

"Of course, my love," Spaceflower replied. "I thought that went without saying."

"Remember our first time?" Starscream whispered, the memory still vivid in his processor. They had been so unfamiliar with each other's bodies, yet so sure of themselves at the same time. (Of course, they both had had liberal amounts of energon, too, but that was beside the point.)

"I will _always _remember," Spaceflower told him, snuggling up against him. "You were so good, even back then. You know that?"

"Thanks," Starscream said. "You were, too."

"And remember the time Megatron walked in on us?" Spaceflower asked, grinning a little now.

"_That _didn't feel good, that was just extremely embarrassing," Starscream muttered. "I wish I could forget about it."

"I think Megatron has," Spaceflower told him. "He's got a lot more to worry about than our adventures in the art of 'facing…anyway, it was just because we were making too much noise and we were keeping him from getting any recharge."

"Maybe that's why he's so crabby."

Spaceflower giggled. "You may be right, my love…you always were."

At this they threw themselves into another steamy kiss, losing awareness of everything around them until they heard a heavy knocking on the door...yet again.

"Who is it?" Starscream yelled out angrily.

"Lugnut," the interrupter said. "Megatron wants the RSVP letter and he wants it now."

Starscream and Spaceflower looked at each other in panic. The letter wasn't written, obviously—what were they going to do _now_?

"Um…okay!" Spaceflower cried nervously. "We'll be right out!"

"Unacceptable!" Lugnut hollered, and pounded on the still-locked door. "Why is the door locked?"

"None of your business!" Starscream yelled back.

"Give me the letter now or I will punch through the door!" Lugnut shouted.

"Don't you dare!" Starscream was a little worried now, because he knew of Lugnut's main weapon (the Punch of Kill Everything). Punch of Kill Everything could make huge craters in the ground and knock out plenty of Autobots. Punching through a door would be no problem at all.

"I said we'll be right out!" Spaceflower told him.

"Time for some punching!" Lugnut hollered.

Then they heard Megatron's voice outside. "Lugnut, what in Primus are you doing?"

"They wouldn't open the door so I was going to punch through it," said Lugnut.

"Why didn't you just get me?" Megatron asked, sounding exasperated, as he usually did with Lugnut. "I can override all the codes on these locked doors. You knowthat. Or, you _should _know that."

"Oh yeah…" Lugnut sounded embarrassed. "I forgot."

"No need!" Spaceflower cried. She ran to the door and opened it. Lugnut was standing there, his fist still raised in blind fury, and Megatron was next to him, arms crossed, looking harried. Starscream got up off the bed and went to stand next to Spaceflower.

"So, you two…where's my letter?" Megatron asked, with an "_I know what you fools were doing_"look on his face.

"Um…we…forgot it," Starscream said awkwardly.

"_WHAT_?" Lugnut thundered, grabbing Starscream by the wing, practically yanking it off. Starscream managed to shove his subordinate off, but Megatron grabbed him by the arm.

"Starscream, _you _come with me," he commanded. "Spaceflower, stay in the bedroom and write the RSVP."

"Yes, my liege," Spaceflower replied, nodding.

Starscream dug his heels into the ground but Megatron managed to drag him all the way back to the main monitor room, where they found Sweetie watching _Autobot Makeover Madness_.

"Turn that off," Megatron told her sharply, letting go off Starscream's arm. "We do not watch the Autobot channels, much less _Autobot Makeover Madness_."

Sweetie looked upset. "_Autobot Makeover Madness _is my favorite show!"

"Yes, it is my favorite show too!" Random added, standing up and laughing his crazy laugh.

"You've got to be kidding me, Blitzwing," Starscream said. "No mech likes that show."

"I do!" Blitzwing insisted, sitting back down on the floor and continuing to watch the show.

"So…why did you choose this bad paint job?" asked the Makeover Expert Autobot on the screen. She was talking to a femme with a very ugly paint job—in fact, she was ugly in general, but that was why she was on the makeover show.

"I…I just thought it looked really good," the makeover patient replied.

"And that's why I'm here," the Fashion Expert Autobot said confidently. "I'm going to show you what _really _looks good."

"Yes!" Sweetie cried. "I love this part! This is where they start the makeover."

"See, this is why I hate the Autobot channels," Starscream commented. "The Decepticon channels have all the horror movies and comedies and everything. The Autobot channels are all full of soap operas and sappy romance movies and those accursed Cybertronian reality shows."

"_Seeker Daily Drama _was on the Seeker channel," Sweetie reminded him, still not taking her optics off the screen.

"Well, nobodylikes _that_ show, mech or femme, Autobot or Decepticon," Starscream said back. "It was a really bad channel. And Super Seeker Miracle Cream doesn't really work."

"What, have you tried it, Starscream?" Megatron asked, crossing his arms.

"Oh, I'm _totally _surprised." Ramjet smirked.

"A mech has to look his best," Starscream muttered, shrugging.

"Anyway, Sweetie, just turn it _off_," Megatron repeated.

"You're paying for all the Autobot channels on our TV, Megatron," Sweetie said back. "So don't you think _someone _should be allowed to watch them? I mean, it's not like I'm switching over to the Autobot side or anything."

"What do you think of your new paint job?" asked the Makeover Expert on TV.

"Y'know…I think I liked it better before," the makeover patient replied, sounding upset.

Sweetie groaned. "I _hate _it when they do that! Can't she see she was a _total _mess? She looks so much prettier with her brand-new paint job!"

"It doesn't _matter_!" Megatron thundered. "JUST TURN IT OFF!"

"TURN IT OFF!" Lugnut ran over to Sweetie and might have been about to attack her, but Starscream shot him in the back.

"Don't even think about attacking her!" he hollered. "Don't you know you're, like, at least twelve times her size? You would offline her immediately!"

"She disobeyed a direct order!" Lugnut insisted. "That is unacceptable!"

Megatron shot Lugnut with his fusion cannon and yelled at the top of his lungs, "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU, LUGNUT? _DON_'_T FIGHT MY BATTLES FOR ME_!"

"I'm sorry, my liege," Lugnut mumbled.

"And refusing to change the channel is notworth killing your subordinate over!" Megatron continued, sitting down in exasperation. "Dear Primus, she can watch _Autobot Makeover Madness _if she wants! I really don't give a slag!"

"Mm…stressful job, isn't it, Megatron?" said Starscream, sitting down next to him. "Maybe you should let me take over for a little while?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Megatron muttered, whacking Starscream in the back of the head.

Right at that moment, Spaceflower returned to the main monitor room, along with the newly written RSVP letter.

"I apologize for the delay, my liege," she said, holding the RSVP out to Megatron, who impatiently snatched it out of her servo. "We can send the letter to Optimus and Co. now."

"Took you long enough," Megatron said back, quickly reading over the RSVP and handing it to Starscream. "Take this RSVP to the mailbox, Starscream."

"Okay, I guess," said Starscream, walking outside. It was a beautiful day. The sky was blue, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Starscream spotted their mailbox and walked slowly through the green grass until he got there. He quickly slipped the RSVP letter into the mailbox then walked back inside the base.

"Mission accomplished," he said proudly.

"Well, how difficult could it possibly be to put an RSVP in a mailbox?" Thundercracker asked haughtily.

"Not at all, really," Starscream replied. "But you all know what it means, right?"

Sweetie grinned and finally took her optics off the screen. "It means, it's party time!"


	8. We Like To Party!

_Several solar cycles later_…

It was near dark as the Decepticons finally arrived, after a long flight, at the Autobots' base, that old warehouse in Detroit, Michigan. They could see flashes of different-colored light through the windows, and the building was shaking with the vibrations of the music. They heard screaming, laughter, and cheering from the inside.

"Looks like a pretty good party to me," Sweetie commented, as she and the rest of the Decepticons landed on the ground. "Let's go in!"

"Who has the motor oil?" asked Starscream.

"I do," said Megatron, holding up his oil barrels. Decepticon oil was the best-tasting oil there was, and the barrels were trademarked with a large Decepticon insignia on the front and back. "I couldn't really trust anybody else with it."

"And I'm ready for live singing," Spaceflower added, looking excited, just like she always did whenever she talked about something having to do with music.

"I'm excited to _hear _your singing," Starscream told her. He remembered Spaceflower in the musical so long ago, how her beautiful voice had filled the whole warehouse, how the Autobots had given her a standing ovation, how they had been on their feet, literally screaming for more. Spaceflower was a great singer, and there was no one better.

So they went into the base to join the party. It looked like a pretty kick-aft party. The music was even louder now that they were inside, and there were huge strobe lights on the ceiling (which explained the multicolored flashing lights). The usual "main monitor room" décor was gone (couch, TV, etc.) and it had been replaced with a DJ system, larger-than-life speakers, the strobe lights, a refreshments table, and plenty of room for dancing. Almost _everybody_ was dancing—there was even something Starscream knew the humans called a "mosh pit".

There was a free refreshments table with candied cyberberries (Sweetie's favorites) and low-grade motor oil. The Decepticons were forbidden to bring any of their energon, but Megatron set the Decepticon oil down next to the rest of the refreshments.

"All right, you made it!" the party host, Optimus Prime, said cheerily, walking up to the Decepticons. "You have any trouble finding the place?"

"Yes," Megatron replied with a straight face, "otherwise it wouldn't be a secret base."

The place was packed. Even Ultra Magnus was there, sipping motor oil at a table. Sentinel Prime, obviously, had not been invited, because of the rivalry between him and the party host. Ultra Magnus had brought most of the Elite Guard, though, and they seemed to be enjoying it. Jazz the Cyber Ninja was breakdancing (very well, too), Ironhide was in the middle of the mosh pit, Agent Blurr was fast-dancing (of course!) and even Perceptor and Wheeljack were there, adjusting the strobe lights and making sure the gigantic speakers were working fine.

Sari Sumdac was also there, dancing with Bumblebee. Starscream watched as she crept over to the speakers, stuck the AllSpark-infused key into one of the speakers, and turned the music even louder. Perceptor and Wheeljack looked down at the DJ system, obviously confused, but all the other partygoers cheered.

"Wow, Dad, and you say Autobot parties are _lame_?" Sweetie shrieked. "This party looks awesome!"

"Well, that's just because you've never been to a Decepticon party," Starscream replied.

Sweetie didn't answer; she was already halfway to the mosh pit.

Meanwhile, Spaceflower walked all the way up to Perceptor, who was still working the DJ system. Finally, the scientist turned off the music and shouted into the microphone, "Enough recorded music—who's ready for some live music by the infamous Decepticon singing sensation…SPACEFLOWER?"

The crowd screamed their approval, so Spaceflower took the microphone from Perceptor, who diligently plugged the microphone into the speakers. The Elite Guard had also hired some random Cybertronian civilians to play electric guitar and drums, so Spaceflower wouldn't be singing a cappella the whole time. Spaceflower signaled to the musicians, they started playing, and Spaceflower started singing.

As the song went on, Spaceflower kept singing. The speakers were pulsing with the sound. Spaceflower's amazing voice climbed effortlessly over the score, perfectly in time with the accompanists. The song got faster; Spaceflower sang faster, too, and the partygoers cheered. Just like every time, she was unbeatable.

She sang song after song, the partygoers dancing and cheering and enjoying themselves (with the possible exception of Skywarp, who was hiding in a corner because, as he had said before, parties were _extremely _scary).

Megatron wasn't really the dancing type (not at all), but at least he seemed to be enjoying himself, drinking some Decepticon motor oil by the refreshments table and listening to the music. Sweetie was now in the middle of the mosh pit; she seemed to have a natural flair for dancing, somehow, and partying.

Starscream and Blitzwing were both very good at dancing; Starscream was in the middle of the crowd, showing off his dance moves, and Blitzwing was dancing with his potential girlfriend Blackarachnia, who wasn't really that bad either. Lugnut had asked Megatron to dance with him several times, but this elicited the same response every time—"NO"!

Of course, the Seekers had started their own mosh pit, so now Sweetie was dancing there, along with everyone else (except, of course, Skywarp). Thundercracker kept on trying to show off his "superior" dance moves, but nobody paid that much attention.

Agent Blurr had been dancing for a very long time, but since he had an extreme amount of energy and he could move very fast, he wasn't tired at all. Most of the Elite Guard members were dancing now, including Cliffjumper, Rodimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, Arcee and Blurr, but Ultra Magnus was mainly taking it easy—he wasn't exactly a young bot any more. Optimus Prime was dancing, as were Bumblebee and Sari Sumdac. Prowl and Bulkhead were with Ratchet at one of the tables, sipping some of the Autobot motor oil.

Just then, the loud, fast, music stopped, and a slow song came on.

"This special song goes out to all you lovebirds out there," Spaceflower said, during the introduction. "So hold that femme, hold that mech, and show your love."

Starscream got himself some Decepticon motor oil and sat down at a table with Sweetie, since neither of them had anybody to dance with, and they just watched. Ratchet, to their surprise, got up and took Arcee into his arms, a lot of Elite Guard mechs paired up with Elite Guard femmes Starscream didn't recognize, and Optimus Prime walked up to Blackarachnia and held out one servo. Starscream couldn't decide whether he found this shocking or not, but Blackarachnia nodded and accepted. Most of the "singles" were just sitting down.

"Why…why is Blackarachnia dancing with that Autobot?" asked Sweetie, sounding confused. "I thought she was with Uncle Blitzwing."

"Guess she isn't into long-term commitments," Starscream replied, shrugging. He couldn't help wondering, though, _where _Blitzwing was, and if this bothered him in any way at all. Finally they spotted him sitting at a table with Megatron and Lugnut. He didn't seem to be very bothered, just drinking Decepticon motor oil out of the container and apparently waiting for the song to be over. Starscream walked over to his three fellow Decepticons and tapped on Blitzwing's shoulder.

"What?" said Blitzwing, turning around.

"Don't you care that your potential girlfriend is dancing with an Autobot?" Starscream asked.

Blitzwing shrugged, and in Icy face mode, replied, "We are not 'exclusive' yet…she is not completely sure, you see."

"If she isn't sure, then maybe it will _never _be exclusive," Starscream protested. "Have you _ever _thought of that?"

"Live for today, my friend, not for tomorrow," Blitzwing said back. Starscream sighed with exasperation and went back to sit by Sweetie, who was daintily popping cyberberry after candied cyberberry into her mouth.

"Hey, Dad," she said, mouth still full of cyberberries.

Starscream waved, and continued watching the couples. Finally, the song ended, and Starscream thought his spark-mate was going to start a faster song, but instead another slow song started, and—this _was _shocking—Blitzwing got up from the table, walked right up to the stage and took the microphone from Spaceflower.

"My friend Blitzwing has agreed to sing the next slow song," Spaceflower explained, smiling. "This way, I will get a dance with _my _spark-mate."

"Oh, how sappy," Sweetie said scornfully, but Starscream sprang up from the table and found Spaceflower on the dance floor, waiting for him. He held out his servo to her and asked, in an unusually deep voice, "May I have this dance?"

"Oh, yes, you may," Spaceflower giggled, and Starscream wrapped her up in his arms. He pulled her closer and closer still as the song went on—her arms around his neck, his arms around her waist—and they danced, sparks beating in perfect time with both the song and with each other.

"I love you, Spaceflower," Starscream whispered, so quietly that only she could hear it.

"I love you too, Starscream," Spaceflower whispered back.

Starscream couldn't resist giving her a small kiss on the forehead at this point; she giggled and gave him a quick kiss on the lips. Then, all too soon, Blitzwing sang the last notes to that beautiful song, and Starscream and Spaceflower had to separate.

"Oh slag," said Starscream. "It ended."

"Yes…I have to get back to singing, now," Starscream told him regretfully, but she still looked a little excited about singing again. Which was better? Her passion (music) or her love (Starscream)?

Starscream watched as his spark-mate went back to the stage and Blitzwing left. Spaceflower started a fast song, and the various mosh pits started again (including the Seeker one), and soon enough there was a big pack of dancers right in the middle of the floor.

"Time to dance, Megatron!" Blitzwing was saying, now in "Random" face mode.

"_I don_'_t dance_, Blitzwing," Megatron growled, looking extremely irritated. Starscream knew Megatron hated dancing (he hadn't even danced in the musical—mostly sang and acted), but Blitzwing seemed to be having some trouble accepting this.

"Oh, come on!" Random insisted. "It will be fun!"

Megatron, looking even angrier, held up his fusion cannon in warning, but fortunately for Blitzwing, Optimus came running over at that moment.

"Remember, Megatron?" Optimus said quickly. "No fighting at the party."

Megatron lowered the cannon, still looking annoyed, and Blitzwing ran off to dance with the rest of the partygoers. Spaceflower was singing her best song yet—really getting into it, sort of like how she had been in the musical, except this party music was quite different from your standard musical theater soundtrack.

Spaceflower kept on singing and singing until finally, guests started clearing out, and the party seemed to be dying down. Megatron went over to the Seeker mosh pit, which hadn't broken up yet, and asked, "Are you all ready to go home?"

"I am!" Skywarp cried in terror, waving his arm all around in the air.

"We know you are, Skywarp," Megatron said. "Is everyone _else_?"

"Spaceflower can't leave until the party is completely over," Starscream pointed out (he was in the middle of the Seeker mosh pit at the time). "She's providing the music."

"Brilliant observation, Starscream, just _brilliant_!" Sunstorm piped up. "We need a musician!"

"Well, I'm the Decepticon leader, and I say it's time to leave," Megatron replied. "Besides, the party's almost over anyway. You will notice the Elite Guard is leaving."

Starscream looked and, yes, the pack of Elite Guard members that had visited Optimus's base was getting ready to leave. Perceptor and Wheeljack had abandoned their positions at the strobe light and speaker control station, and Ultra Magnus was already walking out the door, with everyone else following him, including the Cybertronian musicians (who had arrived with the Elite Guard). Spaceflower kept right on singing, though, a cappella.

Optimus waited until Spaceflower's song was over, then walked onstage and gently took the microphone from her. "Looks like this party's pretty much over, everyone…hope you had a good time, and have a good rest of the night!"

Spaceflower stepped down from the stage, looking exhausted but happy.

"Thanks for an awesome party!" Sweetie said to Optimus. "This was my first party…and I _loved_ it!"

Optimus was squinting. "Don't I…don't I know you from somewhere?"

Sweetie looked confused now, too. "Erm…possibly. I don't know."

"I think you know her, Optimus," Spaceflower explained, putting her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "This is your friend Sweetie."

"Wow…you grew up fast," said Bumblebee, looking shocked. It was true—with Sweetie's new red-and-orange paint job, the Decepticon insignia on both her wings, and the fact that she could now walk, talk and fly without any assistance, she was a lot different than when she was a tiny protoform.

"The last time we Autobots saw you, you were only a sparkling," Ratchet told her.

"I mean…no offense, but I don't remember meeting you," Sweetie said back.

"You were very young," Ratchet explained. "Most sparklings forget events that happened before they grew up."

Sweetie shrugged and smiled. "So what's your name?"

"My name is Ratchet," Ratchet replied. "I am the medic bot for Optimus Prime's team."

"Nice to meet you," Sweetie replied. "Even though technically, I guess I've already met you, but—"

"_Anyway_," Megatron cut in, "we had better be heading back. The party is completely over."

"Yeah," Spaceflower agreed. "I'm pretty tired."

So the Decepticons all transformed and flew back to base, where they all headed back to their separate rooms to get some recharge.

"You never disappoint me," Starscream told Spaceflower, as they climbed into their bed. "Your singing was better than I've ever heard it."

"I try," Spaceflower whispered, and kissed him right on the lips. "Goodnight, my love."


	9. Monitor Duty Mayhem

_About one _(_Earth_) _week later_…

The Decepticons were sitting on their floor, watching TV (they were still devoid of a couch), when suddenly Sweetie got up, stood in front of the TV, and declared, "Everybody, I have an announcement!"

"What is it?" asked Spaceflower.

"Well…you know my name, Sweetie?" she replied. "I think it might have sounded cute when I was a sparkling, but now I'm all grown-up and a great Seeker. So now it basically just sounds stupid. I've come up with what I think is a better name."

"Is she allowed to do that?" asked Blackarachnia.

"In theory, yes," Megatron told her. "After all, I don't actually think 'Sweetie' was ever intended to be her permanent name, anyway."

"Okay, then, what _is_ your new name?" asked Starscream.

Sweetie transformed into a red-and-orange jet, flew all around the room, landed on her feet, and replied, "Skydive."

"Skydive?" asked Sunstorm. "Why, I couldn't have come up with a better name if I tried! Such a wonderful name!"

"Thundercracker is a _better _name, though," Thundercracker reminded everyone.

"We _know_," said Sweetie. "But do you guys like my new name?"

"Yeah, I like it," Starscream told her. "You're right…we gave you the name 'Sweetie' when you were really young. It doesn't fit you any more. We always meant to change it in the end, but I guess you kept it for so long that the name kind of…stuck."

"That new name is scary," Skywarp whimpered.

"Why?" asked Megatron, crossing his arms.

"Because skydiving is something humans do and they go offline when they do it," Skywarp replied, hugging his pillow. "I saw it on TV the other solar cycle."

"That's why you bring a fragging _parachute_, you idiot," Thundercracker told him. "If I were a skydiving human, I _definitely _would not go offline."

"Bet you would," said Starscream, just to irritate him.

"Oh _YEAH_?" yelled Thundercracker. "I bet I would last longer than _you_, at least!"

"You're Seekers," Blackarachnia reminded them, sounding annoyed. "You don't _need _parachutes because you can FLY, remember?"

"Technically, that is correct," Blitzwing agreed, nodding.

"Either way, can I keep my new name?" Sweetie asked, looking at her parents and Megatron hopefully.

"I don't care," said Megatron. "Keep it if you want."

"It's wonderful, Sweetie—I mean…Skydive," Spaceflower added.

"I like it too." Starscream smiled and Sweetie (a.k.a. Skydive) ran over to her parents, hugging them both—but not Megatron because, as everyone knew, he greatly detested being hugged.

"Well, then, Skydive is going to go outside and practice her flying," Sweetie/Skydive replied happily, and ran outside. "Later!"

"Wow…I hate to admit it, but that Autobot—Bumblebee, I think his name is—was right," Spaceflower said, a little tearfully. "She _did _grow up fast. I can remember like it was just last solar cycle when she was just a little sparkling I could hold in my arms and sing to sleep…"

"Don't cry," Starscream told her nervously. "It'll be okay."

Spaceflower didn't cry; Starscream just reached down and squeezed her servo. She smiled slightly and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Anyway, Starscream, I need you to work Monitor Duty today," Megatron suddenly ordered, pointing at their main monitor system, which basically was untouched except by Megatron.

"Okay, that sounds fine," Starscream replied, shrugging.

"Monitor Duty" used to be a tedious shift, but now, ever since the concept of television entered the main monitor room, anyone who was assigned Monitor Duty could wait until Megatron was occupied with something else and out of earshot, and just turn on the TV. After all, the TV _was _conveniently placed in the main monitor room.

"That's rough." Spaceflower rubbed Starscream's arm. "You got Monitor Duty."

"I shall _never _do Monitor Duty," Thundercracker declared. "For it is inferior."

"_That _little comment just gave you Monitor Duty for the next week," said Megatron.

"Oooooh…" All the other Seekers were laughing, except Skywarp, who was scared that Megatron would get mad at him next, even though technically, he didn't do anything wrong. If Skywarp even caught sight of Megatron he would scream in terror and find somewhere to hide as soon as possible.

"And, of course, I am going to disable the TV this time, because I _know _that all you fools do during Monitor Duty is watch TV," Megatron continued.

"_What_?" yelled Starscream. "Oh slag…"

Now, of course, Monitor Duty was going to be what it had been before—totally boring. Almost like detention in Autobot School—especially because Megatron typically used Monitor Duty as a punishment when something angered him but he didn't feel like coming up with something more "creative". When nobody had really done anything wrong but it needed to be done, he usually just had Starscream do it, as was the case today. After that, Thundercracker, as punishment for his smartmouthery, would be in charge of Monitor Duty for the next _week_…and, this time, no TV.

…

_What did I do to deserve this_? Starscream was thinking, as he was sitting in the main monitor room, trying to find ways to pass the time. TV, of course, was not an option. For the most part all he could do was stare at the clock and watch the time pass slowly…very slowly. (If time didn't freeze, that is. Sometimes, on particularly tedious Monitor Duty shifts, Starscream suspected time had actually frozen.)

Monitor Duty wouldn't be so boring if anything actually _happened_, but nothing ever did. Nobody ever called, and the Elite Guard never threatened to break into their base and destroy their couch again. ("By the way, Ultra Magnus, we still don't _have_ a new couch!") Optimus Prime's team never called either. The only one who really called regularly was Swindle, but of course he was only trying to sell things, and telling him that you were "not interested" over and over again was pretty boring too.

"Starscream?"

"Wha—Spaceflower?" Starscream turned around and, yes, there was Spaceflower, right in the doorway of the main monitor room.

"Since there's no TV, I came to make your shift a little more…you know…_interesting_," Spaceflower whispered, climbing into Starscream's lap and stroking his legs.

"Well, sorry, Spaceflower, but I have to finish my incredibly boring and TV-free shift before we can do anything steamy," said Starscream, shoving her off his lap.

(Ha-ha! Not really!)

"I think that sounds _perfect_, my love," said Starscream, slowly sliding his claws down to her waist and pulling her into a deep kiss.

"Too bad there's no couch…" Spaceflower (still sitting on Starscream's lap) moved her servo up from his legs to his wings, and wrapped her own legs around him.

"Well, my love, there's the floor," Starscream reminded her. "After all, it doesn't matter _where _we do it, right?"

"Of course," she agreed. "As long as we are in the mood for 'facing…and I am definitely in the mood."

"I can tell," Starscream replied. "Except I'm probably even more in the mood than you are."

"Hmm…what if the Autobots suddenly sent us a message, warning that they were going to destroy our base in only one solar cycle, and we had that amount of time to flee?" Spaceflower asked.

Starscream pretended to be thinking. "Well…who gives a slag? We're 'facing, for Spark's sake!"

With that the two of them (not hesitating even a little) tore off each other's armor, got down on the floor, Spaceflower ripped open Starscream's interface hatch (which was about to open by itself anyway), he penetrated and they started their rather passive-aggressive interfacing, which they had taken to doing lately.

"I will _make _you overload for me," Spaceflower (who was on top at the moment) whispered, that hypnotizing voice kicking in again. "You are at my complete mercy."

"Oh but it is _you_ who will overload for _me_!" Starscream protested, kissing her yet again.

"_Nonsense_…" she hissed, digging her claws into the tops of his arms. "I am your 'facing goddess…"

"My—GODDESS!" It was so true; so true…this felt great…Starscream grabbed one of her claws and shoved it deeper into his arm, enjoying the feeling of raw energon spewing out of the new cut in his arm. Clawing during interface didn't hurt; it actually felt _good_…he could never do it to her, but he liked it a lot when she did it to him. Starscream usually hated getting cuts (or any other injuries) and avoided it as much as possible, but since interface felt _so _good already, well, clawing just made the feeling better. (Still no biting the spike, though—that could _never _feel good.)

"Come on, my love…moan for me…" Spaceflower was successful—he _was_ moaning, now, very much so, and also, if he had been in his right mind, he would have figured out that she was deliberately using her voice weapon, which might qualify as cheating, but…well…if you thought about it, there was really nothing to complain about.

Starscream started stroking her wings, using only the tips of his fingers—not enough pressure to hurt in any way, but the sharpness would electrify the many, many sensor nodes her wings contained.

Spaceflower shrieked in surprise and started making out with him again—glossa became involved, and as soon as that ended he began licking her wings, which he knew she went crazy for. She mewled with delight and pulled him closer, squeezing her legs tighter around him. Once he was done he flipped her up without withdrawing and initiated an even deeper (and more passionate—if that was _possible_) kiss.

By now both their processors had turned to mush, and the only thing they could focus on was their 'facing "adventure". Starscream was moaning passionately for her, both his body and CPU taken over by lust long ago; she continued to emit her high-pitched squeals of pure pleasure; eventually it became too much and Starscream overloaded inside her—only several cycles before her overload came too.

Starscream's overload had come and he was slightly disillusioned—that had felt _so good_. Interfacing with Spaceflower _always _felt good. And even though ever since they got television Starscream would sit and watch the Seeker channel during Monitor Duty, this was by far the most fantastic Monitor Duty shift he had _ever _experienced.

Spaceflower sighed happily and finally said, in one breath, "That was _wonderful_, absolutely wonderful! Now just let me go take a shower before Megatron comes back and notices that I was in here. And close your interface panel."

"Good idea." Starscream did, and then looked over at his armor and Spaceflower's, lying down on the floor next to them. "Before you go take your shower, though, my love, don't you need some help putting your armor back on?"

"Oh, you—!" Spaceflower giggled. "Of course! I could _definitely _use some help!"

Starscream threw his own armor back on and then (as slowly as he could—to savor the experience), he began to place Spaceflower's armor back on her voluptuous…beautiful…body…OHHH…Starscream realized he was pressurizing again but tried to ignore it as he placed his girlfriend's armor back on her body. She stood there, goddess-like indeed, until finally everything was on right.

"Better?" he asked, as sultrily as he could.

"Oh, much better," she replied and then, to his surprise, she grasped his faceplates and initiated a passionate kiss. With their glossas still feeling their way into each other's mouths, Starscream reached his fingers down to her port-and-valve region, and when she jumped he just drew her in closer. _THIS is what Monitor Duty is all about_, he thought.

"STARSCREAM!"

_Uh_-_oh_. That voice did not sound like Spaceflower's, and it did not sound happy.

"Oh! Megatron!" Spaceflower squeaked, separating herself from Starscream before he could even get his fingers out of somewhere they probably shouldn't have been in the first place.

"What would have happened if I hadn't come in here?" Megatron hollered, grabbing Starscream by the wing. "I give you the simple order—_Monitor Duty_—Lugnut does it better than you can!—and I find youtrying to cop a feel on your subordinate!" He looked down and noticed, then, that the floor was covered in some…erm…"unusual" fluids. "AND THAT WASN'T THE ONLY THING YOU WERE DOING, WAS IT?"

"Can I not trust _ANY_ OF YOU?" Megatron was still holding onto Starscream's wing with a very painful grip and yelling as loud as can be. "Instead of simply performing your monitor duties, you decide to INTERFACE ON MY FLOOR? What kind of operation am I running here? I don't have TIME for this! I HAVE A SLAGGING UNIVERSE TO TAKE OVER!"

"My liege, it's…it's my fault!" Spaceflower spoke up, looking terrified. "Don't get mad at Starscream. I came in here and…well, offered to make his Monitor Duty shift less…tedious?"

"Spaceflower, _you _go back to wherever you came from," Megatron commanded, then grabbed Starscream's wing even tighter. "And _you_, Starscream, are coming with ME."

Megatron literally dragged Starscream all the way to his office—Starscream knew he was probably in for an Intense Beating. These didn't happen very often but when they did they were nothing short of brutal. Some wounds could take weeks to heal.

When they finally got there Megatron pointed at the spare chair (made of wood and falling apart) and yelled, "SIT!"

Without saying a word Starscream hurriedly sat down.

"WHAT AM I GOING TO _DO _WITH YOU?" Megatron hollered, pacing back and forth. "I have been VERY patient with you—you force me to be in that foolish musical, you have an accidental sparkling, you get captured by the Elite Guard, you make those senseless Energon Pops, you drag me to your stupid Autobot parties, you make out right in front of me _and _everyone else, you accuse me of being JEALOUS—why the frag would I be _jealous_? And I put up with it _all_! Don't ask me why! I am TIRED of this! This relationship of yours has affected your career as a Decepticon for a LONG time, Starscream, and I—"

"_No_!" Starscream begged, dropping to his knees. Yes, this might be humiliating, but having Megatron separate him and Spaceflower was much, much worse than another Intense Beating. "PLEASE don't make me break up with Spaceflower! _Please_! It would break her spark…and mine! And—and think of what it would do to Sweetie—I mean, Skydive!"

"Silence, fool!" Megatron yelled. "Did I TELL you to break up with her? I know you are hopelessly infatuated with each other and I know there's not a single thing I can do about it! What I'm SAYING is, I am not an expert on romance but I know healthy couples do not spend every moment of every solar cycle in such close proximity! You two are joined at the hip! Kind of like those Autobots, the Jettwins…I never see one of them go ANYWHERE without the other."

"But…but Megatron, I…" Starscream got up from the floor, sat back down in the chair, and looked up at his leader, who was still furious. "I love her."

Megatron groaned. "Did you not hear a word I was saying? All I was telling you was to please not let this relationship get in the way of your career any more than it already has! You fools are together? Fine! I could give a frag less! But _when the Oath and the Cause become affected by it_—"

"The Oath and the Cause!" Starscream yelled suddenly, jumping up from the chair and knocking it over. "Is that all you ever _think_ about? There's more to life than your stupid plans to take over the universe, you know!"

"Sit down at once!" Megatron ordered.

"Megatron, you don't understand!" Starscream wasn't yelling any more but he was getting a very weird feeling, one that he couldn't place. It wasn't exactly hatred, wasn't exactly fear—the two emotions he mainly felt when hanging around the Decepticon leader.

"I don't understand _what_?" Megatron hollered.

"Before I met Spaceflower, I wanted…I wanted weapons, I wanted power, I wanted to rule the Decepticons and the whole universe—that's _all _I wanted!" Starscream realized what the awful feeling he was experiencing right now was—something he hadn't experienced since he was a sparkling, even younger than Sweetie/Skydive. Something that would be lightyears worse than overloading in front of Megatron—of course, this was…literally bursting into tears in front of Megatron.

"But then I met Spaceflower!" he continued, putting his hands out rather dramatically and fighting back tears. "She…she showed me _caring_, she showed me _understanding_, she showed me _unconditional love_—things nobody has ever shown me since…well…ever. And I realized—" His voice cracked and he put his head down to try and hide the tears that were now streaming down his face. "I realized that's all I ever really wanted."

_Did I really just SAY that_? Starscream wondered, but nobody said anything until finally, Megatron gave a long, slow sigh and said, "Starscream, that is sincerely the sappiest thing I have ever heard."

"W-What?" asked Starscream, now sitting back down in the chair and trying to stem the flow of his tears, which just made them fall faster.

"Seriously, I feel like I'm in some particularly horrible episode of _Seeker Daily Drama_," Megatron continued.

"Well, I-I told you! _Nobody_ likes that show!"

"I still don't understand you, Starscream, and I will never understand you." Megatron walked over to his subordinate and clamped a hand on his shoulder. "But I feel like I understand you…well…somewhat better than I did before. If it's what makes you two happy…" Megatron groaned again and shook his head. "Fine. Stay with each other every moment of your life cycles. It's really not my call to make. I have more important things to worry about. And all this is giving me a horrific processor ache."

"Like the kind you have the morning after all our Decepticon parties?" Starscream couldn't help asking.

"Much worse," Megatron replied. "But anyway, Starscream, just listen for one cycle?"

"What?"

"Keep your spark-mate with you at all times if you must," Megatron told him, "but could you _please_ remember your career as a Decepticon as well? There _is _room for both in your life cycle. And do NOT interface on my floors from now on. That's what beds were invented for. You're still cleaning that up, you know."

"Yes, I know," Starscream grumbled, getting up from the chair. "And…and I guess I could…you know…try a little harder. I know the Oath does have meaning."

"Meaning you should make a point of following," Megatron finished. "That will be all, Starscream, go clean up your mess and continue 'facing with Spaceflower if it is to your liking. Just don't bring me into it because I have both a planet and a universe to conquer. I wish not to be disturbed."

"Well…um…neither do we," Starscream replied. "And that's the truth."


	10. The Most Important Flying Manuever

_Approximately one week later_…

It was a stormy, dreary afternoon. Starscream hated these days on Earth—when something the humans called "rain" fell from the sky and wouldn't stop for hours. Why would water fall from the sky, anyway? Also it was thundering, and Starscream could see flashes of lightning outside the window.

Megatron had finally ordered a new couch (possibly because if there was a couch in the main monitor room, Starscream and Spaceflower were less likely to interface on the floor). For now, though, they still had to sit on pillows or on the floor when they watched TV.

This was what Blackarachnia was doing when Starscream walked into the main monitor room, holding an energon cube. She seemed to be pretty interested in what she was watching—her servos were folded beneath her chin, and she had a strange smile on her face.

"What are you watching?" asked Starscream, sitting down next to her.

"_27 Paint Jobs_," Blackarachnia replied, and made a face. "It's this cheesy Autobot romantic comedy about some femme who gets twenty-seven paint jobs for each wedding she's in, except what she _really _wants is for some mech to come into her life cycle and romantically sweep her off her feet."

"That _does _sound bad," Starscream agreed. "But anyway, I thought you hated romantic comedies."

"I do," Blackarachnia told him. "Slipstream left it on so I just started watching it. I hate it so far. _27 Paint Jobs _is probably the dumbest movie ever made."

"Did you just say _27 Paint Jobs_?" Spaceflower shrieked, running into the main monitor room. "That's my favorite movie ever!"

"Well, um, I could watch it with you, if you want," Starscream suggested.

"Would you?" Spaceflower asked. When Starscream nodded, she plopped herself down on a pillow and started watching, optics practically glued to the screen.

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you," the mech on-screen was saying, in a very deep voice.

"What?" asked the femme (who Starscream assumed was the main character).

Spaceflower squealed. "This is the part where he proposes! And it's just _so_ romantic!"

"Well, thanks for giving it away," Blackarachnia snapped.

The mech bent down on one knee and declared, "I love you! Will you marry me?"

"Yes!" the femme squealed.

"Awww…" Blackarachnia and Spaceflower both said at the same time.

"Oh come _on_," said Starscream. "That was _so_ cheesy."

The femme kissed her husband-to-be dramatically, then they cut the scene. The next scene was…the wedding itself.

"And I knew all my friends would be there for me on my special day," the femme said, and the camera did a close-up on her and her special mech. (And, of course, she had a different paint job _again_.) Cheesy, romantic music started playing as the mech flipped the main character backwards and kissed her on the lips.

"Hold me, Starscream," Spaceflower whimpered, and Starscream realized she was actually crying a little bit.

"My love, it's…it's just a movie," he reminded her, as he held her close. He knew she really loved romantic things.

"But it's _so romantic_!" she cried. "I…I always get a little teary when I watch this scene."

After the wedding scene, the femme and her mech rushed outside, where there was a beautiful sunset, and kissed yet again. Then the movie ended, and the credits started rolling.

"Can we please watch something good now?" asked Starscream. "I think _Cybertron_'_s Dumbest Citizens_ is going to be on in a few minutes. Good show."

"_Cybertron_'_s Dumbest Citizens_…" Spaceflower was wiping her optics. "Okay…whatever you want, my love."

Blackarachnia changed the channel to the Decepticon channel that was showing _Cybertron_'_s Dumbest Citizens_. In this show, the host picks three Cybertronians who are, supposedly, total idiots. Then, he asks them trivia questions and sees who gets the lowest score. The categories were always so easy, and yet the contestants were so stupid that they never got anything right.

"I'll pick 'Shapes that are Square' for 400, please!" the first contestant was saying.

"Okay, then, a box is usually shaped like this shape," the host said.

"Is it a circle box?" asked the contestant.

"Erm…no, it is not," the host told him.

"Then, um…is it…triangle?" he asked.

"NO, it was _square_, you idiot!" the host yelled. The funny part was that on every episode, the host almost always got fed up with the contestants.

Blackarachnia, Spaceflower and Starscream were all laughing hysterically. What kind of idiot would ever guess "triangle"?

_Several days later_…

All of the Decepticons except Spaceflower were sitting at the kitchen table, having their breakfast. Skydive still wasn't old enough to drink energon yet, so she was still drinking motor oil, but basically everyone else had energon. The reason Spaceflower wasn't present was because she had been gone all morning, and nobody had seen her.

"Are you guys _sure _Spaceflower didn't say anything to you before she left?" Starscream asked, for about the millionth time. He was worried, because it wasn't like Spaceflower to just wander off without telling anyone first. What if something terrible happened to her?

"_YES_, _WE_'_RE SURE_!" everyone at the table shouted.

Starscream pushed his energon away. He was too worried to drink it.

And then, as if on cue, he saw Spaceflower waltz into the room, a huge smile on her face, and she said, "Hey guys! Did I miss anything?"

"Spaceflower!" Starscream jumped up from the table and gave her a hug. "I was so worried! Are you all right?"

"Very much so," Spaceflower replied, smiling. "Don't worry; nothing bad happened."

"Well, anyway, my love, now that you're here, I wanted to see if you would come outside and supervise some of my flying maneuvers," Starscream told her. "I've been practicing some new ones and I wanted to see what you thought of them."

"We don't want to watch your stupid flying maneuvers, Starscream," Thundercracker said.

"Too bad." Starscream started to walk outside and motioned for everyone to follow him.

Starscream waited until everyone was outside, and then Slipstream finally asked, "What are we watching?"

"I _told _you," Starscream replied. "I wanted to get my spark-mate's opinion on some of these new flying maneuvers I have come up with."

Spaceflower was still smiling. "Well, what are you waiting for, my love? Show us."

With that Starscream turned into a jet and shot into the air as fast as he could, looping back and forth, doing barrel rolls, flying high and low, all the moves coming together in perfect harmony when finally he transformed back into a robot, gently landed on the ground, and pointed at the words he had formed, with his jet-clouds, in the sky:

_SPACEFLOWER_—_WILL YOU MARRY ME_?

Starscream walked back to his girlfriend, whose mouth was open in shock. Everyone else's was too, for the most part, but hers even more so.

"We've been through so much together, my love," Starscream said softly, putting one servo on her shoulder. "Like the musical, and when Sweetie—I mean, Skydive—was protoformed, and when we got captured by the Elite Guard and had to dress up like Autobots to get Skydive off the ship safely…I feel the happiest when I'm with you, when we're with each other. I feel like we really _are _spark-mates."

"So, here." Even more surprisingly, Starscream held out a glowing crystal with a gold band attached, for Spaceflower's engagement ring. "You might recall how I brought the clones to life…well, this ring is made from a piece of the AllSpark too—special, immortal, inextinguishable…like our love."

Almost all of the "audience" groaned, and someone yelled "_Cor_-ny!" but Spaceflower's optics were slowly filling with tears.

Just like the mech in the movie, Starscream bent down on one knee and held out the AllSpark ring to her. "Would you please make me the happiest mech in the universe by agreeing to marry me?"

Spaceflower didn't say or do anything for a moment or two; but finally, she grabbed the ring from him and promptly burst into tears.

Starscream quickly stood up and held his spark-mate close, his own optics burning with hot tears. "No need to cry, my love…this is a happy moment."

"Yes, yes it is," she sobbed. "Starscream, that was the most romantic thing anyone has _ever _done for me! I love you _so_ much!"

"I love you so much too," Starscream told her. "That's why I said we were spark-mates. We should _always_ be together. Kind of…kind of like the Jettwins, I guess."

"The Jettwins?" asked Spaceflower, looking a little confused. "What do they have to do with—"

"You never see one of them without the other," Starscream explained. "I guess we're kind of like that, in a way. But my point is…I just think we were meant to be together, which is why I want to get married to you. I love you, Spaceflower. Will you marry me?"

Starscream reached out one servo and she took it, still wiping tears. "Of course I will, Starscream. Of _course _I will."

They hugged again, and Starscream felt tears running down his face as he kissed her forehead. "Nobody makes me feel this way but you, Spaceflower. _Nobody_."

"And what way is that?" she purred.

"Why, love, of course," he replied, pulling her into a romantic kiss. They were lost in this truly passionate moment, nothing but pure joy running through their processors, but then—

"HEL-_LO_!" Thundercracker called out. "Did you FORGET I'm even STANDING here?"

"Oh…um…yeah," Starscream said. "We're just, you know, hopelessly infatuated with each other."

"Yes, we are," Spaceflower agreed, gently taking her husband-to-be's servo in her own.

"_Well_, I don't want to watch you making out with each other all solar cycle long!" Thundercracker continued. "You should recognize my worthy presence."

"That reminds me, though," Spaceflower suddenly separated herself from Starscream and spoke to the whole crowd of Decepticons gathered outside the base. "I suppose you all were wondering where I went this morning?"

"No, not really," said Blackarachnia apathetically. Starscream glared at her, but she didn't respond.

"Either way, I was at the Autobots' base because of something I'd suspected for a little while now," Spaceflower continued, smiling. "And I found out I'm pregnant again."

"My love, that's great!" Starscream kissed her quickly on the lips. "I would hug you but I don't want to…you know…hurt anything…"

"Right," she laughed. "I was so happy. I love sparklings. I was so scared the first time, but now, well, I'm just happy. We will need to postpone the wedding until _after_ the sparkling comes, though…"

"Yeah, we will," Starscream agreed. "It's okay."

"So…I'm going to have a new brother or sister _and _my parents are finally getting married?" Skydive piped up. "These next few lunar cycles will be quite eventful."

"And I'm going to make you my maid of honor, Skydive, if you don't mind," Spaceflower replied. "Would you like that?"

"Of course Mom," Skydive said, looking shocked. "I'd love to be your maid of honor."

"Starscream, just in case you are considering it, I will not be your best mech even if you threaten my life," Megatron suddenly said.

"Oh, get over yourself, Megatron," Starscream snapped. "Why the frag would I pick _you_ to be best mech?"

"Who are you going to pick, then?" asked Skydive.

Starscream pondered for a moment, thinking about who would work for best mech. Finally he decided, "Blitzwing? Will you be best mech?"

Blitzwing, he thought, deserved this position more than anyone else because, after all, he _had _helped set up Starscream and Spaceflower. And even though he was part crazy, and he had endangered Skydive's life with his stupid Energon Pops, he wasn't really that bad a friend. As long as he didn't get too drunk at the reception, what could go wrong?

"On one condition," Icy said.

"What's that?"

"Can it be a _musical _wedding?" Blitzwing asked, switching to Random and breaking out into another song-and-dance routine.

Spaceflower shrieked with delight. "Yes! That's an _excellent _idea! Starscream, we can have a musical wedding, right?"

"You mean, kind of like the musical we performed in when we first met?" Starscream asked.

"Of course," Spaceflower replied. "And you know you don't have to sing."

"Well…then…I don't see why not," Starscream told her. "Thanks, Blitzwing."

"Anytime, my friend, anytime."

"Skydive was right, though," Spaceflower pointed out. "We have a lot of planning to do, since we have a sparkling _and _a wedding on the way. We _seriously _have our servos full."

"You know, you never told me you wanted a sparkling, Mom," Skydive said. "Why didn't you say you were trying for a sparkling? I'm actually really excited to have a new brother or sister."

"Well…you see…I wasn't exactly _trying_ to get pregnant," Spaceflower told her, more than a little awkwardly (just like Skydive, this new sparkling was, technically, an accident). "Of course, that doesn't make it any less happy. We're very glad you're accepting a new member of the family."

"Of course." Skydive shrugged. "Being an only child can get a little lonely sometimes."

"Oh, come here, honey," said Spaceflower tearfully, running over and embracing her daughter in a sweet mother-daughter fashion. "You were always the best daughter a femme could ever hope for, did you know that? You were so smart, so funny, so talented, so cute…"

"Thanks, Mom," Sweetie whispered. "You're a great mother, too. I'm so happy you chose me as maid of honor."

"Of course," Spaceflower told her, and then once Spaceflower finished hugging her daughter, she went back to hugging her husband-to-be.

"This has been a most unusual solar cycle," Starscream commented. "Proposal…sparkling…wow. Pretty crazy."

"And I can't wait," Spaceflower added.

"Who are you going to choose for your other bridesmaids?" Skydive asked.

"Probably that Autobot from the party, Arcee, and Slipstream," Spaceflower replied. Of course, she didn't _say _she wanted Blackarachnia to stay OUT of her wedding, but everyone knew that was what she was thinking. Blackarachnia didn't seem to have a problem with it, though.

"And…well, since you're the Decepticon leader, Megatron, you kind of have to be one of my groomsmechs," Starscream told Megatron. "Sunstorm, Skywarp, Ramjet, you can all be groomsmechs too."

"I'm glad you didn't choose me," said Thundercracker. "I wouldn't have done it anyway."

"And…I _do _have to make an appearance at a high-profile Decepticon occurrence such as a wedding," Megatron added, reluctantly.

"If Megatron's in the wedding, I want to be in it, too!" said Lugnut.

"Okay, fine," Starscream groaned. "Just…just don't mess anything up, okay? Megatron doesn't want you to."

"I will not fail you, my Lord!" Lugnut declared.

"Honestly, Lugnut, it's not _my _fragging wedding," Megatron reminded him, looking irritated.

"But anyway, we still have a LOT to do, in terms of both the wedding and the sparkling," Spaceflower reminded everyone. "So let's get started."

…

Starscream and Spaceflower were in the main monitor room, sitting on pillows. Spaceflower had a data pad out, and they were writing down everything they thought they would need for the wedding.

"So…what should we do first?" asked Starscream.

"Well, first of all, we need to figure out our guest list," Spaceflower suggested. "And write out invitations, too."

"Yes, and—Blackarachnia?" Starscream turned to see Blackarachnia, making her way into the main monitor room.

"It's me," said Blackarachnia, sitting down. "I wanted to ask, Spaceflower…why didn't you invite _me _to be one of your bridesmaids?"

Spaceflower, apparently deciding to be brutally honest, replied, "I thought we hated each other."

"Well…yes…but I still wanted to be part of the wedding," Blackarachnia told her. "I thought it would be, you know, romantic."

"Are you serious?" Spaceflower asked.

"Of course."

"I suppose I could add you to the bridesmaid list, then, on one condition," Spaceflower said. "Can we be _friends_, not _enemies_, on my wedding solar cycle? Just that one solar cycle?"

Blackarachnia shrugged. "I guess that's not too much to ask…okay."

"Same goes for you and Megatron, Starscream," Spaceflower continued. "ANY fighting between you two and you are in VERY BIG TROUBLE, got it?"

"Got it," said Starscream. "I want my wedding solar cycle to go perfectly too, you know."

"Anyway, thanks for the bridesmaid nomination." Blackarachnia stood up and started to leave the room. "Later."

"Later," Spaceflower replied, then turned to Starscream. "That was weird. We hate each other. Why would she want to be in my wedding?"

"Who knows," said Starscream. "Now…let's continue planning, shall we?"

"We shall," Spaceflower giggled, holding up her data pad, and so they did.

**-TO BE CONTINUED-**

**(Next chapter coming soon!)**


	11. Planning in Polite Company

**Hello, readers of **_**Decepticons Have More Fun**_**! Sorry I've been away for so long—I have had a lot of studying to do at school (I'm sure you know what I mean!) and therefore have been unable to post anything…but Chapter 11 is finally up! Enjoy!**

_Approximately two Earth weeks later_…

Pretty much everyone felt sorry for Spaceflower, because not only was she pregnant, she and her husband-to-be were in the middle of planning a big wedding. The wedding wasn't to take place until after the sparkling came, but you can never start planning too early. The couch had finally come (thank Primus!) so at least nobody had to sit on the cold, rock-hard floor or pillows (which still made your aft hurt nonetheless).

Megatron wasn't as much help as they thought he would be—mostly because although he was excellent at planning and fighting the war, he was…not so excellent at doing the same for a wedding and a sparkling. And usually he _was _busy with running the war, which, according to him, took up a lot of time. Starscream and Spaceflower weren't completely lost in planning for the sparkling, since they had done it before, but none of the Decepticons had even _been _in a wedding before, much less planned one.

So one morning, Starscream and Spaceflower were sitting on the brand-new couch, wondering what they should do first. Spaceflower still had her data pad out, and she and her mech were discussing the best plan for a wedding and a sparkling.

"I feel kind of…worried…" Spaceflower admitted, looking down at her data pad. "I mean…we're going to have two sparklings now…what if we aren't able to do it? It's been a long time since Sweetie—I mean, Skydive—was a tiny protoform. What if we adjusted too much to caring for a grown-up Decepticon and not a sparkling? What if we can't remember how?"

Spaceflower was concerned with the wedding, but it seemed she was even more concerned with their new sparkling. She had become quite anxious during the past couple weeks—understandable, of course, but nobody really knew what to do.

"Well…" Starscream thought back on Skydive's protoform days—no stasis for straight solar cycles; more showers due to being splattered with choked-up, low-grade motor oil…

"Well, what?" asked Spaceflower.

"It's not like we're…you know, alone in this," Starscream said finally, remembering how willing the Autobots had been to help take care of the newborn Skydive. "I think the Autobots were really helpful with our first sparkling. So, um, I don't know. We can talk to them again, if you want."

"I can't _now_, I have a fragging wedding to plan!" cried Spaceflower, sounding tearful again, so Starscream took the data pad and looked at what had been written on it.

_Pick wedding party _(_done_)

_Figure out guest list _(_done_—_include all Decepticons_, _some humans_,_ and most Autobots_, _Sentinel Prime possible exception_)

_Find location_

_Set up nursery for sparkling_

_Buy_/_make toys for sparkling_

_Make _(_and send_) _invitations_

_Make wedding favors_—_find someone _"_artsy_"

_Get new paint jobs_/_tune_-_ups_

_Write songs for musical wedding_

"Wow…hardly any of this is finished," Starscream commented.

"Not _helping_," said Spaceflower.

"Hey Mom, Dad, surprise!" Skydive suddenly walked into the room with a smile on her face. "I have some good news for you!"

"What is it?" Spaceflower asked, looking like she could use some good news.

"_Well_, what happened is, Megatron was getting pretty irritated with all this wedding-and-sparkling stuff going on," Sweetie explained. "So he forwarded the planning list to _my _data pad, and I got a lot of stuff done for you!"

"Oh, honey, you didn't need to do that," Spaceflower told her, but she still looked appreciative—Skydive really was a great daughter. Also, Starscream's personal belief was that Skydive _did _need to do this. They needed all the help they could get.

"What did you do?" asked Starscream.

"First of all, I'm really excited for my new brother or sister," Skydive began, glancing at her data pad importantly. "So I took my old cradle out of the storage room, and some of my old toys, and set them up in my room. I thought it would be okay to share a room for a little while, especially because we don't have any more rooms. I also visited the Autobots and they gave me some sparkling stuff for free. They said they were willing to help with my new sibling as much as needed.

"When I was visiting the Autobots," Skydive continued, "Ratchet said he'd also give us all free tune-ups for the wedding so we wouldn't be in such bad shape like we all are now. And you know that Autobot, Bulkhead? He likes art, apparently, so he said he'd make wedding favors, even though he didn't know what wedding favors are so that human—Sari, I think her name is—had to explain it…but anyway, he said he'd do it.

"I looked at your guest list, too, and I made invitations for everybody, so we can mail them out soon. I also had Uncle Blitzwing start writing the songs—he said he'd sing most of them, isn't that funny? And, as the maid-of-honor, Mom, I decided to throw you a slagging _awesome _bachelorette party…of course, a _Decepticon _bachelorette party, at _our _base. With _everyone _invited."

Starscream and Spaceflower were both in shock, but Skydive was still just holding her data pad and smiling.

"I just wanted you to be able to check a few things off that big old list of yours," she explained. "You two seemed so…so _stressed_. Besides, I'm the maid-of-honor. Of course I'm going to help plan the wedding!"

"Oh, Skydive, I love you so much," said Spaceflower. "Where would we all be without you?"

"I don't know," Skydive replied. "But hold on. You haven't heard the _best _part yet."

Starscream and Spaceflower looked at each other, confused, until finally Starscream asked, "Best part?"

"You know how you needed a location?" Skydive was grinning. "Well, I spoke with Megatron and the Cybertron Elite Guard—respectively, of course—and it turns out we're allowed to have the best wedding location _ever_—Cybertron itself!"

"_Cybertron_?" Starscream and Spaceflower cried in disbelief.

"Yeah, isn't it _great_?" said Skydive. "I've never even _been_ to my home planet and now I get to go there for a totally kick-aft wedding!"

"Megatron was okay with this?" Starscream asked.

Skydive shrugged. "Yeah, he was. I mean, I don't see why not…you see, this isn't a battle or anything, this is just a wedding. It's like the party, you know? There's really no need for fighting." She paused. "Are you okay with this? I…I thought it was a great idea."

"We're okay with it," Starscream told her. "I haven't been to Cybertron in ages."

"And we'll have the sparkling in tow," Spaceflower added. "I think Cybertron would be a safe place for a sparkling...unlike some unfamiliar Earth place."

"Oh, yeah, I'm sure there are all kinds of places for you to get married," Skydive assured them, still smiling. "Now do you want to come see the nursery I set up?"

"Certainly," Spaceflower replied, and they headed towards the nursery—but not before running into Skywarp in the hallway.

"How soon is the wedding?" asked Skywarp, looking terrified out of his mind.

"Not for a while, since we have to wait for the sparkling," Starscream told him. "Why?"

"I'm…I'm _so_ nervous," Skywarp whimpered. "I've never been in a wedding before! What if I mess up? What if I drink too much motor oil and I blow a gasket or something? What if everybody gets too drunk at the reception? What if the musical doesn't go right? I-I don't have to sing, do I? And…and I don't like dancing! I'm always so afraid I'll look stupid! This…this wedding is so scary!"

With that Skywarp burst into tears, inconsolable until Skydive walked up to him and patted his hand in a comforting way.

"Don't worry, Uncle Skywarp," she assured him. "I'm the maid-of-honor. I promise I'll take care of _everything_. I'll put all your fears down in my data pad and—"

"If you try to put all his fears down in your data pad, Skydive, it will fragging explode," Starscream reminded her. "It might be advanced Cybertronian technology, but it doesn't have an unlimited memory card."

"Oh ha ha," said Spaceflower. "Come on, my love, he can't help it if he's scared of everything."

"Seriously, though, Skywarp, Spaceflower and I are the ones getting married," Starscream reminded him. "_We_'_re _supposed to be the nervous ones, not you. Don't be such a 'fraidy bot."

"It's normal to be nervous, Uncle Skywarp," Skydive told him, but Skywarp just whimpered again. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine."

Skywarp just started crying again and ran off down the hallway. Starscream and his family shrugged and went on to Skydive's room, where they were shocked to find her old cradle, some of her old toys, and some brand-new toys.

"Skydive, this is…this is amazing," said Starscream, looking around.

"No problem." Skydive shrugged. "I'm going to be the best older sister ever."

_Approximately three lunar cycles later_…

Starscream, Spaceflower and Skydive were at the Autobots' base, with Skydive holding her data pad and reading over the list (she would not allow her mother to bring her data pad because, as she put it, "you need your rest, Mom"). Her list looked like this:

_Pick wedding party _(_done_)

_Figure out guest list _(_done_—_include all Decepticons_, _Sumdac family_, _Optimus Prime and Co_. _and the Cybertron Elite Guard_, _Sentinel Prime DEFINITELY an exception_)

_Find location (done_—_CYBERTRON_!)

_Set up nursery for sparkling _(_done_—_sharing with his_/_her older sister_!)

_Buy_/_make toys for sparkling _(_done_, _although we will probably get more soon_)

_Make _(_and send_) _invitations _(_done_—_written and sent_!)

_Make wedding favors_—_find someone _"_artsy_" (_done_—_thanks_, _Bulkhead_!)

_Get new paint jobs_/_tune_-_ups _

_Write songs for musical wedding_

_Throw TOTALLY AWESOME bachelorette party_ (_after new brother or sister is protoformed_—_find sparkling_-_sitter_)

"Wow…most of this is done!" Skydive smiled. "I'm so excited!"

Starscream and his family were at the Autobots' base for three reasons—one, because Ratchet had agreed to give them free tune-ups, two, because the Autobots had offered to help plan for the sparkling, and three, because the lovely couple had decided to have the wedding reception at their base.

All three of them were done with their tune-ups by now, so they were discussing the reception.

"So…my Uncle Blitzwing might get drunk," Skydive told Optimus Prime. "I've never seen it happen but Dad says it's true."

"Don't worry, that won't be a problem," Optimus said.

"I don't know, he's supposed to be even more crazy than usual when—"

"No, we Autobots don't allow energon at our parties," Optimus explained, laughing.

"You mean…you don't drink energon?" Skydive asked, looking sincerely shocked.

"We do," Ratchet told her. "The reason the Cybertron Elite Guard banned it at Autobot parties is because excessive amounts of energon at parties can lead to...well…many undesirable consequences."

"Megatron didn't ban energon because he always gets so drunk himself," Starscream added, grinning.

"He does? _Really_?" Skydive burst out laughing. "That's hilarious!"

"Remember the party after the musical?" Spaceflower purred, stroking one of Starscream's wings.

"Oh I remember, my love," Starscream replied. That night was _not_ a night that was easy to forget—and not just because a very intoxicated Megatron had almost blasted all of them into oblivion.

"Still my best party ever," Spaceflower giggled.

"Mine too," Starscream whispered.

Skydive, still unaware that the night of the musical after-party could very well have been the night during which she was conceived, held up her data pad again and cleared her throat.

"Oh…erm…sorry, honey," said Spaceflower awkwardly.

"Yeah…sorry." Starscream wanted to squeeze Spaceflower's claw or put his arm around her or _something_, but he thought to himself, _Remember_, _be professional_. It wasn't practical (or appropriate, really) to let his "Lust-Induced Processor Freeze" control him at a time like this, mostly because he and Spaceflower would end up making out, which led to the removing of armor, which led to 'facing, which apparently either led to yelling from fellow Decepticons, a sparkling, or who knows what else. Either way, it probably wouldn't be very acceptable to do it at the Autobots' base.

Skydive still looked a little confused. "What…what _happened _at that party, anyway? You guys are always talking about it."

"Oh…erm…" Spaceflower was blushing a little. "It was interesting because of…because of the musical, you see."

"Yeah, that's it!" Starscream added, feeling relieved. "You see…the party _itself _wasn't that exciting, but the musical was _so _exciting that when we think of the party, we typically think of the musical instead. The party was totally boring."

Spaceflower nodded. "Yes, I was _so _bored."

"But…you said Decepticon parties are better than Autobot parties," Skydive protested.

"Well, this one was an exception." Starscream knew they needed to get off THIS topic. The first time he and his wife-to-be had ever interfaced was the after-musical party, and since Skydive was technically an accident, she might have been conceived that night…but even so, Starscream and Spaceflower wanted to keep it a secret. True, they had been caught a few times, but not on that special night. The "our little secret" idea just sort of…enhanced the romance of it, was their feeling.

"You see, Skydive…it wasn't really a party," Spaceflower explained. "More like just a bunch of drunk Decepticons crowded into the main monitor room with excessive amounts of high-grade energon…and, of course, a certain incredibly intoxicated Decepticon leader with a loose cannon."

"And don't forget a certain incredibly perfect Decepticon femme with an enchanting singing voice," Starscream added rather sultrily, stroking her cheek.

"I love you, Starscream," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I love you too, Spaceflower," he whispered back. Oh, how he wished he could interface with her, right here, right now, or at least make out…but not in front of their young daughter AND the Autobots. That wouldn't be just rude, it would be insane.

"Guys, honestly," Skydive said, looking a little perturbed. "It's…um…it's great that you…that you have such a good relationship, but…um, you know, duty calls."

"Young 'bots," Ratchet muttered. "Can't live with 'em, can't melt 'em down for spare parts."

"Just _what _are you insinuating, Autobot?" asked Starscream indignantly.

"I'm saying that you young 'bots—especially Seekers, who seem to have 'facing on the processor 24/7—always let lust overcome logic," Ratchet replied promptly.

Well, okay. Seekers probably do think about 'facing a _little _more than other 'bots sometimes…_but_, Starscream thought, _who the frag is that Autobot to point it out_?

"I'm guessing you're saying _that_ because you haven't seen any nooky yourself in the last thousand stellar cycles…at least," Starscream snapped back. "In fact, I doubt you even remember how to _do_ it."

"Well, at least I didn't get _my _refresher course by sleeping with my subordinate every chance I got!" Ratchet hollered. "You two are disgusting!"

"You're just jealous," Starscream replied.

"The only reason we screw each other so much is because we're in love," Spaceflower added, giving Starscream a hug.

Ratchet was getting angrier. "The only reason you screw each other so much is because you're a bunch of lust-filled Decepticon freaks who can't think of anything except their—"

"That's _enough_!" Optimus Prime suddenly yelled. "Ratchet, Starscream, honestly, we are in polite company. We don't need to argue about inappropriate things such as this."

"Yeah, and I'm sorry Mom and Dad, but I was about to fraggin' blow a gasket," Skydive added. "Some things you should just keep to yourselves, you know?"

Spaceflower looked around for a minute, then let go of Starscream and sighed. "I…I guess you're right, honey. We won't do it again."

"Now, let's continue with our _planning_, shall we?" asked Optimus, a little impatiently.

Skydive nodded and took out her data pad. "How can I help?"


	12. New Responsibilities

_Many lunar cycles later_…

Spaceflower reached out, and Starscream gave her a hug, standing up from the chair he had been sitting in. He walked over to the other side of the bed and sat down next to her, stroking her leg gently.

"So, do you need anything?" he asked. He was sipping some energon himself, and offered some to his spark mate. Most likely she was still a little fragile, since it was only a few megacycles after delivery, so some energon would be just what she needed…but she just shook her head and smiled.

"Okay, then just sit back and relax." Starscream kissed her forehead and squeezed her claw. The two of them were alone in the room now, left by themselves to spend a little time together. Skydive was taking care of her newborn sister (now named Fireblast) and the parents were just relaxing right now.

As if on cue, Skydive ran into the room with a crying Fireblast in her arms. "I'm sorry, but I can't get her to stop crying. I thought maybe you could sing her to sleep, Mom."

"No, she can't," Starscream told her. "You see, after delivery, she's quite low on energy, so her vocal weapon could be gone for the rest of the solar cycle."

"Oh…that's too bad," Skydive said, and handed Fireblast to her mother.

"Maybe she's hungry," Spaceflower suggested, rocking the sparkling.

"Yeah," Starscream agreed. "BLITZWING!"

"WHAT?" they heard Blitzwing holler.

"Fireblast needs some motor oil!" Skydive shouted.

"Get it yourself!" Blitzwing yelled.

Starscream growled and stood up. "EITHER YOU GET THAT MOTOR OIL, YOU _FREAK_, OR I'LL—"

"Don't worry, Dad," Skydive said comfortingly. "I got it."

With that, she left the room. Starscream very gently lifted up his girlfriend's head and kissed her lips. She mewled softly and kissed back (without letting go of the still-screaming new sparkling, of course).

"Give me some sugar, my love," Starscream hissed, lustfully stroking her wings.

"Yes!" Spaceflower cried, grasping his faceplates and pulling him into a passionate kiss. This inevitably morphed into a fierce makeout session, with Starscream fondling Spaceflower's wings and Spaceflower reaching down and stroking her boyfriend's inner thighs.

"Wanna go put the sparkling in her cradle and show me what a naughty femme you are?" asked Starscream, at a pause of this.

"Well, I would, except Skydive will be back soon with Fireblast's meal, and I'm pretty low on energy anyway," Spaceflower reminded him. "Sorry."

"No problem," Starscream replied. "If Skydive will be back soon, though, we had better stop doing all these, erm, 'inappropriate' things."

"And the sparkling's _still _screaming." Spaceflower gently rocked Fireblast and Starscream climbed off her to sit back on the side of the bed again.

Skydive walked back into the room at that point, carrying one barrel of motor oil. Megatron, Lugnut, Blitzwing and Blackarachnia were following her, too.

"How are you, my friend?" Icy Blitzwing asked, sitting down in Starscream's chair.

"I'm fine, thanks." Spaceflower smiled. "But please, Skydive, will you give me the motor oil?"

"Yeah, no problem, Mom." Skydive handed it over and Spaceflower fed the sparkling until finally the barrel was half-empty.

"I love sparklings," Spaceflower cooed, holding her new daughter close. "I'm so happy we finally had another. I always wanted a big family."

"Why didn't you tell me you wanted another sparkling?" asked Starscream. "You never said anything."

"Well, we were so busy, you know, with the war, and the parties, and Skydive—not that you're a handful, honey, we love you very much—and I thought that maybe you thought one was enough."

"No…" Starscream brushed one claw along her right wing. "Of _course _not."

"Where are the other Seekers?" asked Skydive suddenly. "I didn't see them anywhere."

"Out practicing their flying," Megatron replied. "Most of them haven't gotten any flying time in a while and Seekers need to fly often to stay healthy—in their processors _and_ their bodies."

"_And _it's fun," Skydive added enthusiastically. "I just practiced some flying yesterday and learned some awesome new moves."

"When was the last time _you _did any flying, my love?" Spaceflower asked Starscream.

"Yesterday," Starscream told her. "But, don't worry. Today I'm just going to stay right here and take care of _you_."

_Several megacycles later_…

It was dinnertime. Fireblast was in Skydive's room, taking a stasis nap, and Starscream, Spaceflower and Skydive were having dinner in Starscream and Spaceflower's room.

"I thought dinner would be more comfortable for you in bed," Starscream said, after pouring some energon down his throat.

"Thanks, my love," Spaceflower whispered. She was still in bed, Starscream was sitting on the edge of the bed, and Skydive was sitting in Starscream's chair.

"Hey guys, guess what?" Blitzwing (in "Random" face mode) burst into the room and sat next to Starscream on the bed.

"What is it, Blitzwing?" asked Starscream skeptically.

"Blackarachnia asked me out _again_!" Blitzwing's face turned to Icy and he said, "Obviously this means she enjoys my company, correct?"

"I don't know, I'd watch out for her if I were you," Spaceflower warned. "Don't fall for any of her tricks."

"Thank you, Spaceflower, but I will be fine," Blitzwing told her.

"We'd hate to see you get your spark broken, Uncle Blitzwing," said Skydive. "I mean…what if she doesn't feel the same way?"

Blitzwing just shrugged. "Then she does not feel the same way. We are taking it slow right now, maybe a little faster in the future."

"Have you two 'faced yet?" asked Starscream, smirking. "Set your systems on fire?"

"_Starscream_!" said Spaceflower.

"Fiery, indeed, my friend," Icy replied. "In no time at all. She is quite a delectable partner."

"Yeah, well, don't get too fiery," Starscream reminded him. "Overload too soon and you can't savor the experience. Besides, femmes don't want you to overload quickly, because their overloads take longer."

"Have you forgotten the possibility of multiple overloads?" said Blitzwing.

"How many are we talking here?" Starscream asked, arms crossed.

"At _least_ five," Blitzwing said airily.

"Oh, that's a load of scrap metal and you know it," Starscream told him scornfully. "You couldn't overload five times in one session—not on a regular basis, anyway. You'd run yourself dry, not to mention increase the risk of technical glitches due to excessive overload."

"Five overloads are entirely attainable," Blitzwing insisted. "I am just _that _talented. Blackarachnia said it herself the other night. There are no technical glitches in my systems."

"You _are _a technical glitch, Blitzwing," said Starscream.

"How could something that feels _so wonderful _ever be bad?" Blitzwing pointed out. "Release is nothing but good for me."

"I never said release was _bad_," Starscream told him, sighing in exasperation. "I _know _it's healthy and yeah, it feels good. I was just _saying _that—"

"Will you _please_ leave your 'mech-talk' for somewhere _else_?" Skydive yelled suddenly. "Seriously, I really don't need—_or _want—to listen to this stuff. That was _way_ much more than I needed to hear about Blitzwing and Blackarachnia's relationship."

"Hmm…speak of the devil," Spaceflower commented, as Blackarachnia walked in (Blitzwing hadn't closed the door after he came into the room).

"So that's where you got to, Blitzy…" Blackarachnia sat next to Blitzwing and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"I was here all along, Blackarachnia." Blitzwing put one arm around her shoulders.

"Well, you should tell me before you go somewhere without me, silly," Blackarachnia cooed, slowly stroking his chestplate.

Blitzwing held her closer. "I look forward to our date tomorrow night, Blackarachnia. We will literally dance the night away, no?"

"Yes, we will…" Blackarachnia wrapped her arms around her potential boyfriend's neck and they might have started making out, but—

"Honestly, you two, if you're going to do anything fiery, that's fine, but just don't do it in here," Skydive told them. "Don't you want privacy?"

"Ooh…fiery, I like that," Blackarachnia said, and pulled Blitzwing's arm. "She's right…let's leave."

"Goodbye," said Blitzwing, and they left the room.

"You know, sometimes I think I'm the only responsible one around here," Skydive sighed, shaking her head.

_One Earth week later_…

It was morning, breakfast time. Spaceflower and Skydive were off at the Autobots', getting new paint jobs (not too much different from their old ones, but Spaceflower said she and her daughter should have slightly different ones for something as special as a wedding). This meant that taking care of Fireblast was mainly up to Starscream.

"Come on, drink the oil," Starscream said desperately, holding out a canister of Decepticon motor oil. "Daddy knows you're hungry."

Fireblast kept on squalling and knocked the oil canister out of her father's servo.

"I don't know how to get her to stop crying!" Starscream cried to nobody in general, picking the Decepticon motor oil off the floor and holding it out to his daughter again.

"Then that's a signal you should be working on your fatherhood skills," Thundercracker said snidely. "If Fireblast was _my _sparkling, I would be the perfect father."

"Shut UP, Thundercracker!" yelled Starscream, almost in tears now. Fireblast had been hysterical for almost one megacycle now, and Starscream had no idea what to do. "Please stop crying! _Please_!"

"The main reason sparklings cry is because they're trying to tell you something," Megatron said matter-of-factly as he walked back from the refrigerator, now holding a fresh energon cube. "When was the last time Fireblast had a meal, Starscream?"

"Erm…I think last evening, when Spaceflower was still here," Starscream answered, embarrassed.

"Well, then she obviously lacks nourishment," Megatron snapped. "Just stick a straw in her mouth and she will be fine."

Nervously, Starscream poked a straw into the top of the oil barrel and shoved the other end into Fireblast's mouth. She stopped crying instantly and started sucking on the straw; Starscream and everyone else sighed in relief.

Until…once about two-thirds of the barrel was gone, Fireblast spit the straw out of her mouth and started screaming even louder than before.

"Hmm, try burping her," Blitzwing (in "Icy" face mode) said thoughtfully. "She is probably full."

"Oh, slag," Starscream muttered, picking the sparkling up out of her chair. The last time he had burped a sparkling was with Skydive, long ago. He bounced Fireblast up and down until finally she choked up a considerable amount of Decepticon motor oil—right all over her father's chestplate. She stopped crying, which was good, but it was never pleasant to be choked up on.

"All part of the experience, Starscream!" Random cackled, apparently noticing how grossed-out Starscream was.

"Still, she shouldn't have choked up _that _much," said Megatron, picking up the mostly-empty canister of Decepticon motor oil. "What the—oh, no wonder. Starscream, did you _really_ think a week-old sparkling should be fed Decepticon-grade motor oil?"

"How the frag was _I_ supposed to know?" cried Starscream, still wiping sparkling spit-up off his chestplate. "Spaceflower is the one who usually feeds her. Not me!"

Unfortunately, that was when Fireblast started screaming AGAIN.

"What do you want _now_?" Starscream groaned (even though he knew she wouldn't answer).

"Fireblast choked up virtually all of the Decepticon-grade motor oil you fed her," said Megatron. "You have to feed her some Autobot-grade motor oil, the kind that tastes like water."

"But…but I don't think we have any left!" Starscream, still holding his wailing sparkling, was now panicking more than ever. "Blitzwing, go check!"

"Nope, no Autobot motor oil," said Icy Blitzwing, looking into the refrigerator. "Only some Decepticon motor oil…" His face turned to Random again, and he screeched, "And plenty of energon! I think I will have some now!"

"BLITZWING!" Starscream hollered.

"What?" asked Blitzwing, sipping the energon apathetically, as Fireblast continued to scream.

"Aw, don't cry," Starscream said worriedly to his little daughter, but to no avail. (To be sure, by now he felt like bursting into tears himself.)

"_What _is going on here?" they suddenly heard someone say—and, thank Primus, it was Spaceflower. She rushed into the kitchen and snatched Fireblast out of her husband-to-be's arms and started rocking her. "Starscream, what is she crying about?"

"I was trying to feed her but we were all out of Autobot-grade motor oil," Starscream explained nervously.

"And he tried to feed her Decepticon-grade," Thundercracker added. "What an idiot."

"You _what_?" Spaceflower shrieked. "Seriously, Starscream, she's only one week old! What the frag were you _thinking_?"

"I'm sorry!" cried Starscream. "I have to work on my fatherhood skills!"

"Yes, you _do_!" Spaceflower told him. "You said you would be able to take _care _of her while Skydive and I were getting our new paint jobs!"

"Well, I guess I was wrong," said Starscream, feeling mortified. "That new paint job looks great, by the way."

At this all he got was a stony glare.

"Looks like you're in Big Trouble now, Starscream." Thundercracker smirked. "I would have been a _much _better sparkling-sitter. Not that I would ever volunteer, of course—I am far above the degrading job of parenthood. Sparklings are so annoying."

Spaceflower, acting quite out-of-character, bitch-slapped Thundercracker right in the faceplates. "Don't you dare insult Fireblast again, you conceited piece of scrap metal, or you will _regret the day you were protoformed_!"

Skydive laughed and walked up to her parents and still-crying sister. "Good job Mom. Looks like you fight like a femme, just like me."

"Luckily, Starscream, Skydive and I picked up some Autobot motor oil when we were at their base in Detroit," Spaceflower said, still glaring. She gently set Fireblast in Skydive's arms and walked over to the front door, where many barrels of the Autobots' spare motor oil were waiting.

"Can I feed her this time?" asked Skydive hopefully. Everyone knew she was trying to be the best older sister she could be.

"Well…okay." Spaceflower smiled and handed a barrel of oil and a straw to Skydive.

Skydive gently placed the straw in her younger sister's mouth and Fireblast started sucking on it. She nearly drank the entire container this time and, once she was finished, she finally stopped crying and fell into peaceful recharge.

"Aw," said Skydive. "She's so cute when she's asleep."

"Yes, she is," Spaceflower agreed. "You're a very good older sister, Skydive."

Spaceflower seemed less angry now, Starscream thought, so he decided to try out the paint job compliment again. "Honestly, you two look really great."

"Thanks!" Skydive replied, smiling.

"Yes, thank you, my love," Spaceflower agreed, walking up to Starscream. Her new paint job really did look wonderful. Spaceflower's original color scheme was black and dark pink, but the parts of her that used to be dark pink were now a beautiful rosy pink, with the formerly black parts now dark pink. The bottoms of her feet, which were made to look like high-heeled boots, were left black.

Skydive's new paint job looked good, too. Her colors used to be dark red and dark orange, but now her body was dyed a lovely shade of sunshine yellow, with her wings dyed light orange.

"Are you two going to keep these paint jobs?" Starscream asked.

"No," Skydive replied. "They're just for the wedding. We wanted to look extra-nice."

"Like in that movie, _27 Paint Jobs_," added Spaceflower, hugging Starscream close. "And…just like the femme in the movie…I know everyone I care about will be there for me on my special day."


	13. Arrival on Cybertron

_Several weeks later_…

"So, we were able to arrange a space bridge for you two, from here to Cybertron," Ultra Magnus was saying, gesturing to the huge map of Cybertron behind him. "You see…all space bridges have to have permission from the Elite Guard first."

"Oh, yes, we knew that," said Starscream. "When will the space bridge be open?"

"How soon is your wedding?" asked Ultra Magnus.

"Only a couple Earth weeks," replied Skydive. She was holding her sparkling-sister, who was crying again.

"Isn't there _anything _that can shut her up?" asked Sentinel, looking irritated.

Skydive handed the sparkling to Spaceflower and marched up to Sentinel. "You better shut your trap, mister, or you're in for an Intense Beating."

"Come on!" said Sentinel, obviously not remembering his past experiences with the free-spirited young Decepticon femme. "Do you _actually _think a weak little femme like you could ever—"

That gave him a quick, hard punch to his upper leg, knocking him right onto the ground—at which Skydive just smirked.

"Just a little tip, Sentinel Prime," she told him. "Don't mess with Decepticon femme Seekers…because every time you do, you will regret it."

"It…it hurts…" Sentinel croaked, still down on the ground.

"Go Seekers!" cried Skydive triumphantly, pumping her fist in the air. "Wings on the wind, spirit in the sky!"

"She's your daughter, all right," Spaceflower whispered to Starscream.

"I'm so proud," he said.

"Now is not the time for fighting," said Ultra Magnus. "We're trying to discuss opening a space bridge for the wedding, remember?"

"Oh…oh yeah," said Starscream. "Like I said…when are you guys gonna have it open?"

"Maybe a few solar cycles," Ultra Magnus replied. "But we need to talk to that Autobot space bridge technician—what's his name again? Bulky or something?"

"I think it's Bulkhead," Spaceflower told him.

"Okay." Ultra Magnus smiled. "Let's go."

_At Optimus and Co_. _base_…

"I suppose I could build you a space bridge," said Bulkhead pensively. "We…we _are _invited to the wedding, right?"

"Of course!" Skydive smiled.

"We didn't get to see your new sparkling yet," said Optimus, sitting next to Starscream and his family on the couch. "What's her name?"

"Fireblast," Spaceflower told him, kissing her younger daughter's head.

"Nice name," said Bumblebee. "Could I hold her?"

"Sure!" Spaceflower handed the sparkling over to the yellow mech.

"You know, she looks a lot like Sweetie—I mean, Skydive," said Bumblebee. "You know, when she was just a tiny sparkling."

"Well…we _are_ sisters," Skydive reminded him.

"So, anyway, what about a space bridge on the Moon?" asked Bulkhead. "I could set one up there and quickly link it to Cybertron."

"I'm so excited!" Skydive cried happily. "Finally, I get to see my home planet…and my heritage."

_One Earth week later _(_only one week before the wedding_)!

Each and every Decepticon (not that there were that many of them) was gathered in the main monitor room of Megatron's cave lair. They were all packing for the big wedding trip to the planet Cybertron (the Autobots would meet them there, on the wedding day).

For the groomsmechs, Starscream had Blitzwing (best mech), Megatron, Lugnut, Sunstorm, Skywarp, Shockwave/Longarm, and Ramjet. For bridesmaids, Spaceflower had chosen Skydive (maid of honor), Slipstream, Blackarachnia, and Arcee. The bridal party was all planned out.

"I-I can't decide what to bring!" Skywarp was trembling. "I'm scared of overpacking! And underpacking! And intergalactic space travel! And weddings! And crazy bachelorette parties thrown by the maid of honor! And—"

"Come on, Uncle Skywarp." Skydive smiled calmly. "We're going to have a _Cybertronian Decepticon bachelorette party_. What could be better than that?"

"Time to fly to the Moon, everyone," said Megatron. "The space bridge is hooked up."

Skywarp started crying, Spaceflower and Skydive shrieked in excitement, and Starscream felt a very strange feeling in his oil tubes. It wasn't easy to place—in fact…he had no idea what it was. Like a little twinge of…_something_. Starscream just hoped he wasn't getting sick before this wedding that had been planned for lunar cycles and lunar cycles.

Everyone transformed and flew off to Earth's moon, where the huge space bridge was waiting. They were all holding their luggage—everything they needed for their wedding trip to Cybertron. Starscream noticed his wife and daughter had packed much more than he had, but that was characteristic of femmes, he knew—they always needed to pack _everything_, even if they weren't going to be gone for long.

One by one, everyone stepped through the space bridge. When it was time for Starscream and his family, he went first, with Spaceflower, Skydive and Fireblast still waiting on the Moon.

_You know_…_maybe I_'_m just not adjusted to intergalactic space travel_, Starscream thought to himself. Technically, he wasn't prone to Space Bridge Sickness, but he hadn't done it in a while. So maybe THAT was what was causing that weird feeling in his oil tubes that he'd been getting these past few weeks. Never mind…

The space bridge had been hooked up to the biggest city on Cybertron. Starscream looked around and saw a very famous building—one of the buildings from the Super-Fancy Cybertronian Hotel Chain. Understandable, because they _were _having their wedding in this fancy hotel. Where else? There was a big fancy lobby downstairs and rooms upstairs in case anyone needed to, erm, "take a rest".

And, of course…

There was the Party Lounge—which Megatron (at Skydive's pleading) had rented out, just for the crazy bachelorette party. This would not be a lame party. There would be extremely loud music, plenty of dancing, tons of energon, and everyone they knew would be invited—Decepticons _and_ Autobots.

"None of this Decepticons-only party stuff," Skydive said. "I am a professional party planner and I say _everyone _is invited. The more, the merrier!"

Megatron checked everyone into the hotel, while everyone else just hung out in the lobby. They watched as Megatron pulled out his credit download, scanned, and signed.

"All right," he said, walking over to them. "Starscream and Spaceflower, I gave you a room together, but just so you don't do anything stupid, you're also sharing a room with your two daughters. Blitzwing, you're sharing your room with Lugnut—"

"_AGAIN_?" Blitzwing yelled.

"Could I share with you, my liege?" asked Lugnut.

"I have my _own _fragging room, Lugnut," Megatron said angrily. "For I am the leader!"

Blitzwing waved his servo in the air. "I have an idea! What if I shared a room with Blackarachnia, and you could share one with Lugnut?"

Megatron winced. "Well…originally I was going to have Blackarachnia room with the Seekers, but…well…I guess I could bring her into your room instead."

"YAY!" Lugnut cried, running up to Megatron. "We can finally share a room together!"

"NO!" hollered Megatron. "FOOL! I will be alone! You're going to be sharing your room with Blitzwing _and _Blackarachnia."

Lugnut looked sad. "I…I love you, Megatron."

Megatron groaned. "Now, who did I put Shockwave with?"

"You put me in my own room, did you not, my liege?" asked Shockwave.

"Can't," replied Megatron. "Far too expensive. You'll have to go into Blitzwing, Lugnut and Blackarachnia's room."

"As…as you wish, my liege," Shockwave muttered, antlers drooping in displeasure. This meant, of course, that he would have to share a bed with Lugnut, who undoubtedly would hog the whole bed, not to mention steal all the covers.

"Okay, so we've got the Seeker room, Starscream's room, my room, Blitzwing's room…am I forgetting anyone?" Megatron consulted his checklist, then looked up.

"If I might make a humble suggestion, my Lord, my room would be less crowded if I could room with you instead!" Lugnut smiled hopefully.

"It _is _cost-effective, my liege," Shockwave reminded him. "It would be in your best interest financially to let Lugnut stay with you for only this one wedding week."

Megatron growled. "OKAY! FINE!"

Lugnut, excited at this news, ran up to Megatron and wrapped him in a tight hug. "My liege! My liege! Finally our night has come!"

"LUGNUT!" Megatron hollered. "NOW IS NOT A GOOD TIME!"

"What, are you, like…empty or something?" asked Lugnut.

Megatron, even angrier now, lifted up his cannon, ready to fire. "I am NOT empty! I am NEVER empty! When I run out—that is, _if _I run out—I can _always _make more—instantaneously!"

"More than I needed to know!" called Starscream.

"We don't care about your erectile deficiencies, Megatron," Thundercracker added. "_So_ lame!"

"Erectile deficiencies?" Skywarp shivered. "_S_-_Scary_!"

Megatron was about to shoot _all _of them when the stewardess-bot came rushing up to them and said, "Please! NO cannon-shooting in the lobby. Of course, it's illegal for me to remove your weapon, sir, but…can you please _not_ shoot your friends with it here?"

"TRY SAYING THAT TO THE BUSINESS END OF MY CANNON!" shouted Megatron.

"Don't shoot your weapon," she said again.

"Okay," Megatron muttered, and they went upstairs to their rooms.

…

Starscream and his family walked into their room. They had brought along Skydive's old cradle, which now belonged to Fireblast, which meant Skydive got her own bed, and Starscream and Spaceflower got to share a bed—which they immediately climbed into upon arrival.

"Skydive, why don't you take the sparkling down to the vending machine and get some cyberberries?" suggested Starscream, handing Skydive a bunch of cash.

"Mmm…cyberberries, my favorite!" Skydive smiled and grabbed her younger sister. "Come on, Fireblast!"

As soon as the two were gone, Starscream got up, locked the door, then got back in bed.

"At last, my goddess…" he hissed. "I have you alone…"

"I think I know what that means," Spaceflower whispered flirtatiously, slipping one servo between his thighs and stroking his legs. "It means I can make _all _of your dreams come true."

"Yes…" Starscream grinned and climbed on top of his wife-to-be. "There's plenty more Decepticon fun to come tonight."

"Take me now, Starscream!" Spaceflower gasped, as he began to stroke her wings.

"Make me yours, Spaceflower, my beautiful Spaceflower…" Starscream hugged his lover close and sighed in happiness. _Yes_, this was what love was all about. It didn't matter if they were loud, or if the hotel walls were unbelievably thin—who _cared _if anyone overheard them? _Not me_! thought Starscream.

Spaceflower's servos moved up from his legs to his interface panel, which she gently…slowly…stroked…aaaa…that felt good. Starscream knew his port was dripping with lubricant by now, but that just made 'facing _even _smoother.

"It seems you don't have any erectile deficiencies, my love," Spaceflower observed, stroking her husband-to-be's interface hatch (still closed-up).

"Seekers _never_ have erectile deficiencies, for we are the experts at not only flying, but 'facing, too," Starscream replied, nimbly snapping open his interface hatch. "Now…shall we proceed?"

Spaceflower's magical voice kicked in as she purred, "Ready when you are, my love…pleasure me."

That was all the Screamer needed. He penetrated and started thrusting gently at first (so as not to hurt her), but when she started her pleasure shrieks and he started his moaning, his thrusts became much faster and harder. He gently set his claws upon her shoulders (not clawing) and she started clawing his chestplate, just like she knew he loved. He drew her into a deep, romantic kiss and stroked her wings as she continued to run her fingers slowly but surely down his legs.

"Yes, my love, that's it, that's _it_!" Starscream cried. "Keep doing what you're doing!"

"B-Be mine, Starscream!" she shrieked.

Starscream kissed his beloved again, then broke the kiss and howled with pleasure as his overload finally hit. Only a few moments after, though, he realized…Spaceflower's overload hadn't come yet. That wouldn't do! He definitely was going to pleasure her tonight. And multiple overloads were _absolutely _a possibility ("attainable", as Blitzwing put it).

"Don't fret, my angel," Starscream told Spaceflower. "The deed is not done."

"But you…you overloaded already," she gasped.

"Well, sure I did," Starscream replied. "But you didn't…and I'm perfectly capable of overloading more times than one."

Starscream's pleasure level rose, faster and faster. Part of him was wondering if Spaceflower was going to overload soon, but in actuality, he loved doing this—so was there really any problem?

Interface wore on for at least one megacycle (and at least three overloads—all Starscream's) until finally Spaceflower shrieked with pleasure again and her overload came. Starscream's overload came too as he clung onto his spark-mate, gasping for breath.

The bed sheets, as usual, were completely clawed and covered in fluids. Spaceflower closed her optics and Starscream cuddled her up in his arms. Who _cared_ if the bed sheets were totally messed up? The hotel bots were the ones who had to clean it up. And Megatron was paying for all of this—which probably made him mad, but…

_WHO CARES_?

After a couple cycles, they heard knocking on the door—Skydive. "Mom? Dad? Are…are you two all right in here?"

"Yes, we're fine, honey," Spaceflower yelled out. "Just…just hold on a minute."

"Okay!" Skydive called.

"Quickly, Starscream, take off the bed sheets," Spaceflower whispered. "There'll be a bare mattress, but that's better than her seeing the results of our Decepticon fun."

"Gotcha!" Starscream tore off the bed sheets as fast as he could, while Spaceflower walked over to the door and let her two daughters in.

"I figured you two wanted some 'alone time' so I just went to the game room and played there for a little while so—" Skydive paused and stared at the bed. "Wait…why are all the covers off?"

"Um…no reason…we were overheated," said Starscream. _Indeed_, he thought.

"O-_kay_, well, anyway, that's the reason I was gone for so long," said Skydive. "I was playing in the game room."

"We don't have a problem with that," Starscream told her.

"No, we _don_'_t_," Spaceflower agreed. "Anyway, though, Starscream and I are a little tired, so we are just going to go off into recharge. See you in the morning!"

"Goodnight." Skydive smiled and placed her sparkling-sister in the cradle. "Don't forget, the bachelorette party is the solar cycle after tomorrow!"


	14. Since the Moment I First Heard You Sing

_Two solar cycles before the wedding_…

Finally, the night of the bachelorette party had come. It was about half a megacycle before the wild party was to begin, and Starscream, Spaceflower, and Skydive were just finishing setting up. Fireblast was with her designated sparkling-sitters (one of the bridesmaids, Arcee, who loved sparklings, and Autobot Ratchet, who hated parties).

Spaceflower, of course, would be providing music, just like at any other party she attended. The music arrangements were pretty much the same as last time—Cybertronian civilians to play instruments, Spaceflower to sing, et cetera.

"Could I have energon this time?" Skydive asked her parents.

Spaceflower was busy warming up by the microphone, so Starscream just shrugged and told her, "Yeah, I think you're old enough. Just don't drink too much, okay? You have to be in a wedding in only a couple solar cycles, remember?"

"Don't worry." Skydive winked and grinned.

Not long after, guests started arriving. The entire Elite Guard was there (even Sentinel Prime, even though he wasn't dancing), not to mention all the Decepticons, too, and some normal Cybertronian civilians. Someone (nobody was quite sure who) had brought a disco ball, and the multicolored lights illuminated the otherwise dark Party Lounge as Autobots and Decepticons ready to party headed in. The music started, and Spaceflower started singing a fast song. Everyone screamed her name happily. Ever since they first heard this Decepticon femme sing, they knew they always needed more.

Once the song was over, Skydive tapped the microphone (inducing a little bit of feedback), cleared her throat, and asked, "May I please have everyone's attention?"

Everyone stopped dancing and listened.

"As the maid of honor for this wedding of my mother and father, I am pleased to say that this will be the most totally awesome and crazy Seeker-hosted bachelorette party in the history of the universe!" Skydive cried happily.

The guests all cheered again.

"Go Seekers!" Skydive screamed happily. "Wings on the wind…"

"SPIRIT IN THE SKY!" all the other Seekers hollered.

"Well…" Spaceflower smiled. "Whatever happened to spirit on the dance floor?"

This elicited even more cheering and applauding, and Skydive did not hesitate to jump down from the stage and join the Seeker mosh pit. Spaceflower's talent was definitely singing, and Starscream's talent was definitely flying, but it looked like Skydive's talent was definitely…

"Floor's all yours, Skydive!" someone cried, and shoved Skydive out into the middle of the dance floor. Instead of balking and running away, as some coyer 'bots might have done (Skywarp comes to mind), Skydive began dancing even harder to the fast-paced, pumping music in the background—admittedly, probably showing off a little, but, well, she was good. _Very _good. Everyone was cheering her on as she danced and danced, until finally she stepped back and started up the giant dancing crowd again.

During a little break, when a slow song was going on, Starscream was sitting at a table again and watching his daughter try out some energon for the first time. Skydive picked up the special fizzy party energon and quickly poured it down her throat. She swallowed then just stood there for a moment, looking shocked, then smiled and downed the rest of the cube, since special fizzy party energon tasted _very _good.

Several moments later, the slow song ended, and Skydive ran back onto the dance floor yet again, eager to, well, dance. Spaceflower was singing a great song that was very well-known on Cybertron (and very well-loved), and most everyone was singing along. Skydive's generation didn't know this song too well, but she had no problem dancing to the fast, catchy beat, anyway—nobody did!

There was, of course, the Energon Chug (started by Blitzwing), and all the Seekers except Starscream and Skydive ended up joining in…and so did Megatron.

"Wow…I've never seen an Energon Chug before," Skydive commented, looking kind of awestruck.

"At parties with energon, Blitzwing will usually start one," Starscream explained. "Like I told you, just avoid him when he's drunk."

"Well, either way, I'm gonna get back to dancing," Skydive told her father. "Don't wait up for me!"

There wasn't just dancing—someone was swinging from the huge chandelier, there were cheers and laughter and the Energon Chug was still going on, Megatron (by now intoxicated) was shooting his cannon, and as Spaceflower kept on singing, the guests kept on singing and dancing.

Megacycles and megacycles passed of this, fast-dancing and slow-dancing (but mostly fast-dancing); Megatron, Blitzwing and Lugnut, predictably, got drunk; Spaceflower kept on singing until the very end.

Skydive waited until the last song of the night was over, and then she went up to the stage again. "Looks like this bachelorette party is pretty much over, everyone…but we hope you will join us for the big musical wedding, the day after tomorrow!"

_One day before the wedding_…

Starscream, because of the party, the wedding planning, and how busy he and everyone else had been, had not been able to get out of the hotel and just fly around for nearly five solar cycles.

And since he was a Seeker, this was certainly taking its toll on him. His wings were aching, he was starting to get a little dizzy, and he was feeling pretty moody. This typically happened when a Seeker was deprived of the sky, especially the leader of the Seekers—they not only loved flying, but they needed it. After about five solar cycles sans flying, Starscream was getting about as moody as Blitzwing.

In addition to that, he had more symptoms he assumed were from non-flying—yet again, he had that weird feeling in his oil tubes that he just couldn't place. It was even more confusing because he didn't usually feel physically sick when he could not fly. Pain, yes; cravings for energon, yes; dizziness, yes; extreme mood swings, yes; sickness, no.

Starscream headed into the hotel kitchen, determined to find some energon that would perhaps lessen the sharp pain in his wings, spotted Blitzwing and Shockwave, sitting at the table and drinking energon of their own.

"Where did you get that energon?" asked Starscream.

"Refrigerator," Icy Blitzwing responded, taking some more sips. "It's low-grade, though."

"Low-grade is all this hotel has," Shockwave told him. "We brought some high-grade from home, but we drank it all at the party."

"UNACCEPTABLE!" hollered Starscream, banging his fist on the table. What Starscream's inflamed wings needed, they would get! "I NEED HIGH-GRADE!"

Blitzwing looked very shocked. "What ails you, Starscream?"

"What d'you think, you idiot?" Starscream yelled. "I haven't been out to fly for nearly _five solar cycles straight_ and I am NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT!"

"Oh…" Blitzwing nodded. Of course, everyone knew about the Seekers' "Flying-Deprivation Syndrome," and it was never pretty. The best thing to do? Let them out to fly. The second-best thing to do? Humor them.

Starscream felt his anger instantaneously disappear, for some reason, and confusion made its way into his processor.

"I know you two aren't medic-bots," he said, approaching the table then sitting down between them, "but I think I _am_ getting sick. I have this weird feeling in my oil tubes that just _won_'_t _go away. I know the symptoms of FDS, every Seeker does, and this isn't one of them, so I don't know _what_ it could be. I've only had it the past couple of weeks, too…"

"It's just nerves," Shockwave replied nonchalantly. "Don't worry."

"Nerves—oh, you mean for the wedding?" asked Starscream.

"Yes, what else?" Shockwave nodded and sipped some more energon. "It's normal, everyone experiences it. The wedding will turn out fine."

Starscream's anger was back. "How do YOU know that? It's not YOUR wedding, is it? So you don't even CARE, do you? DO YOU?"

"Good grief, calm _down_, Starscream," said Shockwave. "You're acting just like Blitzwing."

Blitzwing momentarily switched to Hothead and yelled, "HEY!" but then switched back to Icy. Even he seemed to be a little sympathetic for Starscream's plight.

Once again, Starscream felt all anger disappear, and now just felt sadness and worry—nobody here loved him, he _knew _it. And he _would _mess up the whole wedding day. Starscream put his head down on his hands, trying so hard not to cry. When was the last time he went five solar cycles without flying? He didn't know…but he _did_ know that right now, he was a nervous wreck.

"Are…are you all right, my friend?" Blitzwing asked uncertainly.

"NO!" Starscream hollered, and then, against his wishes, he really did start crying. "Everything's going to go horribly wrong and it will be _all my fault_!"

"That will not happen," Blitzwing reassured the Seeker, patting his back. "I am best mech, remember? I will not let anything go wrong."

At this point, though, Starscream couldn't _stop _crying. Embarrassing? Yes, very much so…but he couldn't help it. He had been on the ground for a very long time now, continuously, and it was making him crazy. Not to mention his whole _body_ was starting to hurt now, and he had wedding anxiety so he was feeling sick, and he was getting a splitting processor ache…well, basically it was all just too much.

"Please, try to calm down, Starscream…" Just like Blitzwing, Shockwave was looking increasingly concerned.

"I WANT MY ENERGON!" hollered Starscream.

"Just…just let it all out, my friend," Blitzwing said as gently as possible, rubbing Starscream's back in a comforting way. "Let all your tears out."

Starscream was sobbing uncontrollably now, with Blitzwing trying to comfort him and Shockwave looking like he didn't know what to do.

"Starscream, please, please don't cry!" Shockwave said desperately.

"No use telling him not to cry," Blitzwing told him, patting Starscream on the back again. "Just let him cry himself out."

Just then, Megatron walked into the kitchen. "Good afternoon, I was just looking to—dear Primus, what happened to Starscream?"

"I'm afraid our friend Starscream is having a nervous breakdown, my liege," Shockwave replied, looking sad.

"Wha—_why_?" asked Megatron. "We don't have time for that!"

"He is a Seeker, my Lord," Shockwave reminded his leader. "And he went five solar cycles with no flying at all, which elicits violent mood swings and plenty of other unsavory ailments. Add this affliction to the fact that he has apparently been experiencing extreme wedding anxiety for weeks now, plus all the stress of planning and preparing, well…you've basically got yourself a recipe for a nervous breakdown."

"Why did he go that long without flying?" yelled Megatron, throwing his servos up in the air.

"It was the wedding," Blitzwing told him, looking a little guilty. "I guess we were so busy with it that we kind of…forgot."

"_FORGET_?" howled Starscream. "How could you _forget_? Blitzwing, you are _never _supportive of me! I-I don't want to be your friend any more!"

"Starscream, we can work this out," Blitzwing said calmly (obviously, in Icy face mode—the only one of his three personalities that was capable at all of being calm). He hoisted Starscream up onto his shoulder and Starscream cried even harder.

"I…I can't let Spaceflower s-see me like this," Starscream sobbed into his subordinate's shoulder.

"Don't worry," Blitzwing soothed. "We won't let her. Just let it out…just keep on crying until all your tears are gone."

"Do you see what I mean, my Lord?" asked Shockwave pointedly.

"Yes, I do," said Megatron. Quickly he walked over to Starscream and pried him off Blitzwing. "Starscream? STARSCREAM!"

"W-What?" Starscream finally asked tearfully.

"There's plenty of sky outside the hotel," Megatron told him, obviously trying to calm Starscream down. "Why don't you go outside now and fly around as much as you need to, and you can come back inside once you feel better? Would you like that?"

Starscream nodded shakily, and Megatron pushed him outside. Happily, Starscream turned on the rocket boosters on his feet and flew around as fast as he could, the wind drying his tears and the speed freeing his spark. _Wings on the wind_, _spirit in the sky_…the Seekers' motto was so true.

Feeling better by the second, Starscream kept on zipping around the sky, performing every maneuver and trick he knew how to do. Finally, after maybe one megacycle of this, he finally landed and walked back inside to find…Spaceflower. Megatron, Shockwave and Blitzwing were gone.

"Where were you, my love?" Spaceflower asked, her optics shining. "I was looking all over for you."

"Just out practicing my flying," Starscream replied. "But now…I have what I truly want."

"What's that, Starscream?" Spaceflower purred.

Starscream hugged her close. "What did you think? _You_, my love, you."

_The day of the wedding_…

Things were absolutely HECTIC. There was no other word to describe it. Everyone was running around, smacking into each other, screaming, shouting, holding checklists, because the wedding was STARTING SOON!

"She's a femme, Starscream!" Blitzwing screeched (in Crazy mode), sprinting past. "SHE WANTS TO EAT YOUR SOUL!"

Blitzwing was carrying a different random object every time Starscream saw him—most of these aforementioned objects he had never even _seen _before, and he was the groom. Blitzwing also had a paint job that looked rather like a too-small, mismatched bikini—apparently Random had tried to give himself a new paint job right before the wedding.

"Who's good with paint?" Starscream hollered. "Blitzwing needs a paint job!"

"I can paint him!" Skydive called out. She was carrying her data pad, as usual, and rushing around, making sure everything was in place.

"You'll never catch me!" Random shrieked with laughter and kept on running.

"CATCH HIM, SKYDIVE, CATCH HIM!" Starscream hollered.

"No problem!" Skydive turned into a little red-and-yellow jet and flew after her Uncle Blitzwing, determined to catch him and give him a _good_ paint job.

Meanwhile, Spaceflower was getting ready to become the bride, the femme of the day. She was busy making sure _everything _was going right—since her maid of honor was now after Blitzwing.

"GOTCHA!" they heard Skydive shriek; then the sound of spray paint; Blitzwing screaming; then, finally, Skydive saying, "Oh, you look so good, Uncle Blitzwing. Now just don't move for a little while so we can let the paint dry, okay?"

During times like this—when things were completely crazy—Random felt right at home, so he wasn't going to leave until the wedding actually started, if that. (They _hoped _Icy would be there for the wedding.) Skydive and Blitzwing walked up to Starscream and Random asked, "Well, how do I look? Beautiful as ever?"

Since Blitzwing basically looked the same he always did before he decided to give himself a makeover, Starscream replied, "Um, sure, Blitzwing, you look great."

"I knew it!" Blitzwing screeched. "They all want me, but they cannot have me!"

Starscream rolled his optics and thought, _Maybe we should just lock Blitzwing up until after the wedding_'_s over_…_well_, _no_, _we can_'_t really do that_. _He IS the best mech_…

Right now, blessedly, Starscream was too busy to feel nervous. _Everyone_ was working hard to make sure the wedding came off just right, and he was no exception. Finally, though, they heard Megatron shoot off his fusion cannon.

"Are all of you glitch-heads DONE yet?" he hollered. "The wedding party gift-giving ceremony is about to begin!"

"Well…I suppose we could do that right now," Starscream said. He looked towards the gift pile—and there were a _lot _of gifts. "We might not have time for all of those gifts later."

…

"Last but not least," said Spaceflower, still smiling, "the maid-of-honor and best mech will present their gifts to the bride and groom…"

All the guests were sitting at the table and watching. Right now, the wedding party was gathered in a small room of the hotel, at tables (except for Starscream and Spaceflower, who were standing up). Skydive was holding Fireblast, too; thank goodness she wasn't crying.

"You'll like my gift, Mom," said Skydive, walking up to her mother and handing her a gift-wrapped box.

"I'm sure I will." Spaceflower opened the box and shrieked in delight; in it, there was a beautiful necklace, gold and shining. Spaceflower ran up to her daughter and gave her a huge hug.

"Now time for your gift, Uncle Blitzwing?" asked Skydive.

"Oh, yes," said Blitzwing, in "Icy" face mode, and gestured over to the presents pile. Most of them were opened—now the only presents left were Skydive's present (now, also opened) and Blitzwing's present.

Starscream walked over to the pile and picked up Blitzwing's gift. He slowly unwrapped it and when he did he was surprised to find—_two giant boxes of condoms_?

"Really, Blitzwing?" asked Starscream, annoyed.

"Yes, my friend, make sure you wear one next time!" Blitzwing was falling right out of his chair, screeching with laughter. Needless to say, Random had returned.

Blackarachnia smirked. "Yeah, Starscream, safety first…"

Starscream sighed in exasperation and shook his head. He should have known Blitzwing would try to pull a prank like this.

"Well, look on the bright side, Starscream," said Megatron. "Now you don't have to pay for them."

"At least not for a couple of days, my liege," added Shockwave (who was sitting at a table with Megatron at the time). At that he and his leader burst into hysterical laughter, just like everybody else in the room.

Skydive looked mildly disgusted (understandable), and Starscream and Spaceflower were just staring, until finally, they all started laughing too.

…

Finally…it was time for the wedding. It was a musical wedding, indeed, but the musical part was to come after the ceremony, which was to happen right now.

All the guests were here now—the entire Elite Guard, Optimus Prime and Co., all of the Decepticons who weren't in the wedding party; even Swindle was there, trying to sell some weapons. Spaceflower wasn't here yet, but everyone else was. Starscream was up at the altar, waiting, waiting…all of the groomsmechs and bridesmaids were waiting there too.

THEN—that famous song, the Wedding March, started playing, and there was Spaceflower, walking up the aisle. She was holding organic flowers in her servos (brought from Earth, before they came to Cybertron for the wedding), and had some tucked around the top of her head, too. When she saw her mech standing there, up at the altar, waiting, the smile that was already present on her beautiful face grew even wider. She kept on walking, until finally, she was right next to Starscream.

The room was completely silent—then finally, the vows began. (The happy couple had written the vows themselves, as was Cybertronian custom.)

"Spaceflower, ever since the moment I first heard you sing, I knew I needed you," Starscream said, as romantically as he could. "Your song brings life, hope, magic and love to whoever hears it. It can be a weapon but also a gift, for both you and everyone who has the pleasure of hearing it."

"Starscream, your intelligence, talent and commitment to both your career and, of course, our relationship are what have brought true meaning to my life cycle," Spaceflower whispered. "I love watching you soar through the clouds, without a care in the world. You deserve to be head of the Seekers—no one flies better than you. It is you who taught our daughter to be the wonderful Seeker she is today."

"It is you who taught me to love," Starscream replied. "You rescued me from my solitude of countless stellar cycles…you showed me what I was searching for. For this I am forever grateful. I will never leave you."

"You can clone, make mini-robots, and explain scientific things that many Autobots and Decepticons cannot," said Spaceflower. "I always wanted intelligence in a mech—no coincidence you do not have a stupid clone. I will be married to a scientist, Seeker, and devastatingly handsome to boot? What more could a femme ask for?"

"Spaceflower, your spark is as beautiful as your voice…" Starscream gently touched his beloved's faceplates and felt his own spark melting. "From the musical to this very moment, you have always been with me. You taught me that all I needed was to open my optics and more importantly, my spark."

"Starscream, my love, I do not see anyone here without an open spark." Spaceflower's optics were shimmering with tears; Starscream felt hot tears in his own optics, too.

"Then sing for me, my love," he whispered. "Sing for me please."

Spaceflower, to everyone's delight, opened her mouth yet again and started vocalizing a cappella, her flawless voice echoing throughout the entire hotel room. Rather like in the Decepticon musical so long ago, she sang higher and higher, with Starscream encouraging her, "Sing, my love, sing! Sing for me!"

It seemed almost in slow motion when the many wedding guests jumped on their feet and applauded, cheering for more. Spaceflower gave them what they wanted, singing and singing. Starscream felt a most unusual sensation course through his entire body just listening to her song—the nervous feeling he felt yesterday was definitely gone...finally, at long last, her song was _truly_ inside him, through every wire, every diode, every bit of circuitry. _This _was what love was all about.

Their sparks were bonded, never to be separated again; of course, the only way Spaceflower could truly complete spark-bonding would be to use her song. Before, Starscream had heard her song, and it had put him to sleep, and he had enjoyed it, but it had never truly touched his spark enough to stay inside forever.

But now it finally had. They were bonded forever, and he wouldn't want it any other way.

Spaceflower kept on singing; guests in the audience were cheering, applauding, crying, begging for more, and finally, the song stopped.

"Make me yours, Starscream…" Spaceflower slowly but surely walked into her beloved's arms and closed her optics. "Share with me this life, forever and always."

"I will be yours, Spaceflower, and you will be mine," Starscream declared. "Our sparks are bonded and more importantly, I love you."

Better than the musical kiss, better than the kiss after the musical, better than any kiss they had shared in their whole long history together, Starscream placed his hands gently on his spark mate's hips as she placed both servos on his faceplates, drawing him in closer, until the space between both their lips and their sparks was finally gone.

Starscream dipped her backwards then pulled her back up again without breaking the kiss; he felt her love through his spark and knew she could feel his love, too; he forgot his surroundings and focused completely on being lost, lost for good in, as a crazy old triple-changer had put it long ago, the worst weapon of them all…

Not a fusion cannon. Not null-rays. Not water or ice or even song—but love.

Wonderful, beautiful love.


	15. Decepticons Have More Fun

_Several cycles after that long_, _incredibly romantic kiss had ended_…

"The spark bonding has occurred!" cried Blitzwing. "Now who's ready for the musical wedding?"

Everyone cheered their collective "YES!" so the newlyweds herded both the wedding party and the wedding guests off to the Party Lounge, where they decided the musical part of the wedding and the reception should occur. (Initially, the reception was supposed to be at the Autobots' base, but since the wedding itself was on Cybertron, they found that to be rather impractical.)

"The musical will begin with the lovely Spaceflower!" Blitzwing declared, stepping up onto the stage. "Take it away, my friend!"

Spaceflower walked up onstage (still smiling) and took the microphone. As soon as the song started everyone cheered again and started dancing; once the song was over, Spaceflower didn't start another song, but asked, "Now who else wants to do some singing tonight?"

"ME! ME!" screamed Random, who (thank Primus) had been absent for the actual wedding, but was back now. Spaceflower shrugged and handed over the microphone.

Blitzwing, as everyone knew, wasn't that bad a singer. For some inexplicable reason, he sang the best while in "Random" face mode, so whenever he sang, that was the personality that was present.

Once Blitzwing was finished, Skydive, exhibiting her usual confidence, walked up to him and gestured for the microphone. She had never sung publicly before, but she didn't appear to have a problem with singing in front of many Autobots, all the Decepticons and the Sumdac family (also guests at the wedding).

Skydive began singing a fast song in her rich contralto—her voice was different from her mother's, but it wasn't bad at all. Skydive walked all around the stage, singing faster and faster. She was singing a Cybertronian song that _everyone _knew, and when she gestured to the audience they sang along with her. Since she was singing alto, she didn't sing as high as Spaceflower's soprano, but she was really getting into it just the same.

When the song was over, everyone was applauding. Spaceflower rushed over and gave her oldest daughter a hug.

"You call that singing?" asked Megatron shortly. Evidently he had not forgotten his performance in that musical way back when, because he grabbed the microphone right out of Skydive's servos and yelled, "Who's ready for some _real _music?"

"Megatron?" they heard Ultra Magnus ask. "You sing?"

"Yes," Megatron told him, straight-faced. "Yes I do."

Megatron grabbed a guitar from someone and began playing a fast metal song. Everyone was cheering as Megatron started singing the lyrics flawlessly. Metal was his favorite, because metal often stressed power and violence, two things Megatron really liked. As for _The Decepticon Cause_…well, musical theatre he could probably live without.

Metal artists, of course, are also very talented. As the Decepticon leader launched into a lengthy guitar solo, everyone's jaws dropped in shock—nobody was aware he knew how to play electric guitar. There was a drummer too, and a bassist, while Megatron kept singing and playing lead guitar. He ended the song with some more electric guitar and then, of course, an evil Decepticon laugh.

"Yeah, you go, Megatron!" Lugnut hollered.

"Musical genius!" Sunstorm added. "Couldn't have done it better myself!"

"You call that a rock song?" they heard a female ask, and there was Blackarachnia, walking onto the stage and grabbing the microphone. "Now who's ready to rock like a femme?"

"I'm always ready to rock, Blackarachnia!" Blitzwing told her.

"Start that guitar, Megatron," said Blackarachnia, Megatron started playing, and Blackarachnia started playing a rock song. Her voice wasn't sweet like Spaceflower's, or bouncy and catchy like Skydive's, but it was impressive all the same. One might wonder why she didn't sing in the musical. Her voice was rocker-like, as she continued singing her song. Everyone was still cheering and dancing, encouraging her.

Once she was finished, Spaceflower took the microphone again and asked, "Any more Decepticons?"

"_YES_!" called out Thundercracker. "For I am the best singer in the entire _universe_."

"Well, then let's hear you sing, Thundercracker," said Spaceflower, handing him the microphone.

To everyone's surprise, Thundercracker wasn't as good as he thought he was. His voice was squeaky and off-key, rather like how Starscream's voice had been back in that musical in Autobot School. In short, he was definitely _not _the best singer in the entire universe—that title probably belonged to Spaceflower. Consequently, he was soon booed off the stage.

"You fools can't recognize talent!" Thundercracker hollered at the audience. He was clearly outraged.

"NO TALENT! NO TALENT!" everyone was chanting.

"Fine, have it your way!" Thundercracker snapped, dropping the microphone on the floor. "I have no need for the likes of you, anyway."

Shockwave had stated earlier that he had no intention of singing, as did Skywarp (who almost blew a gasket at just the thought of being onstage). Now it was Slipstream's turn—she had organized a trio with Spaceflower and Skydive, a musical-theater type song.

Everyone clapped and cheered after the three femmes had finished their singing; then Spaceflower asked, "Any more Decepticon singing sensations?"

"I'm not bad at singing," they heard someone say, but then they realized it was only Ramjet. Sunstorm didn't volunteer either, nor did Skywarp (obviously). Lugnut hadn't done so well in the musical, and he wasn't a big fan of singing anyway.

Skydive walked up to Starscream. "Hey Dad…why aren't you singing?"

"I can't sing, Skydive," Starscream replied. "Stellar cycles ago, when I was even younger than you, I was forced to sing in a musical. I was nothing short of horrible, and I've never sung since."

"But that was so long ago," Skydive protested.

"Not _that _long ago," Starscream snapped. "I'm not _that _old. I'm not singing, either."

Spaceflower walked over and stood next to Skydive. "You never know, Starscream. If you haven't sung since you were a sparkling, how do you know you're still bad at it?"

"Maybe you got better," Skydive agreed. "Maybe not as good as all the others here, but—"

"Nothing you say can convince me," Starscream told his daughter. "And nothing can turn this horrible singer into a good one."

"You don't know that," Spaceflower replied, turning on her own voice weapon and stroking Starscream's faceplates. "Starscream, please do it. For me?"

Starscream groaned. Voice-power and femme-power _combined_? Unfair! This was the way femmes _always _manipulated mechs into doing things.

"Come on," she whispered. "Besides, don't you remember we're spark-bonded now?"

Yes, they _were _spark-bonded. Their sparks were forever intertwined; they shared each other's thoughts, dreams, memories, emotions. It was a most magical feeling that no one but the spark-bonded couple in question could ever understand.

"We might be spark-bonded, my love," Starscream replied, "but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well, when we spark-bonded, I gave you some of my song-power," Spaceflower replied. "Maybe you weren't able to sing before, but now that you are filled with my song, you will most definitely be able to sing."

"You gave me your song-power?" Starscream asked, shocked.

"Of course I did." Spaceflower's lips formed a devastatingly beautiful smile. "So when you go up there to sing, believe me—the audience will love your singing voice."

"You can do it." Skydive was smiling, too.

_Well_, _if I have her singing power now_, _then_…Starscream took a deep breath and walked up to the stage. This was it. The first time he had ever sung since his stellar cycles in Autobot School—except now he was armed with his bride's main weapon, the weapon of song.

So really, there was no reason to be afraid. After all, every time Spaceflower sang, she sang perfectly. If Starscream now had that power, how could anything possibly go wrong?

Starscream felt a rush of confidence soar through his circuitry. Of _course _he could do this. He was a grown mech now, not a scared little sparkling in a stupid school musical. He had spark-bonded with the best singer in the universe. He could sing now, too.

The introduction to the song started playing and Starscream took a deep breath. Tentatively, quietly, he started singing—to his surprise, his voice didn't sound bad at all. Not off-key at all. Everyone started cheering once they heard him sing and at that moment, he realized he really _had_ been given the gift of music.

As the Seeker kept on singing, the pace of the music sped up and he sang louder—and with much more confidence, too, really throwing himself into the song. Now he knew how Spaceflower felt when she sang—he was forgetting all of his surroundings except the wonderful music and getting more and more enthusiastic. His voice was now greeted with cheers rather than scorned with boos and hisses; he kept on singing, his voice hitting the notes perfectly.

"Don't sing for me, my love!" Starscream called to Spaceflower, beckoning her up onto the stage. "Sing _with _me!"

"Oh, Starscream!" she giggled and started singing with her mech in their spark-bonded duet; finally, after a few lines, she cried out, "Everyone, sing with us!"

The guests did; almost everyone there was singing along to the song, some waving their servos in the air, some cheering, some dancing; Blitzwing was even crowd-surfing. This one night, _everyone_ was getting along, regardless of their affiliation—and all it took was a little beautiful music.

Finally, the song ended, and Starscream gently held Spaceflower's servos in his own. "I love you, Spaceflower."

"I love you too, Starscream," she whispered.

Skydive then walked up and grabbed the microphone. "Good job, bride and groom! Anyway, are there any Autobots who want to sing?"

"Of course!" Optimus told her. "We had something planned."

With that he walked onstage, with Blurr and Bumblebee following him. Apparently they were planning on doing some kind of trio. As soon as he was handed the microphone, Bumblebee started singing a fast song in a high tenor, with Optimus and Blurr singing, too. After a little bit of this, they stopped and smiled for the applause that greeted them.

Jazz was performing too—he was rapping, and he was very good at it too.

Once that was over, Bumblebee waved his arm in the air and asked, "Can I go again? Sari and I have a duet together."

"Yeah, we do!" Sari agreed excitedly.

"Why not?" said Spaceflower, so Sari and Bumblebee ran up onstage and began a fast song. It was a typical duet; first Bumblebee sang, then Sari, then they sang together. It wasn't a bad song, though, and everyone kept dancing.

At the end of the song Skydive asked, "Anyone else?"

"I'll sing," Arcee volunteered, a little shyly. She walked up onstage and gently took the microphone.

Arcee began singing a beautiful slow song; she was actually a pretty good singer. The couples quickly started dancing with each other—including, of course, the bride and groom.

"This is a pretty song," Spaceflower commented, as Starscream gently took her into his arms.

"Nothing compared to yours," Starscream replied. "Thank you, Spaceflower."

"For what, Starscream?" she asked, smiling.

"What do you think, my love?" Starscream kissed his bride's forehead and held her close. "For giving me the gift of music."

"Starscream," Spaceflower whispered, "I didn't give you the gift of music."

"What are you talking about?" Starscream asked. "We spark-bonded, remember?"

"We did, very much so, but that doesn't mean I had to give you any of my powers," Spaceflower replied. "I never gave you my song at all."

"You…you didn't?" Starscream was seriously in shock now. "You didn't transfer your voice weapon over to me at the wedding?"

"Of course I didn't." Spaceflower laughed a little and kissed Starscream's cheek. "I just told you that so you would finally forget about that stupid school musical from when you were about Fireblast's age. You did it all on your own."

Starscream found himself grinning mischievously. "Very sneaky…I like that in a femme."

Spaceflower kissed Starscream's lips, then giggled. "You totally fell for it, my love, but it was completely untrue. You didn't need my powers to sing as well as you did."

"In that case…" Starscream noticed that Arcee's song was drawing to a close. "Wanna do another duet?"

"Maybe after the Jettwins are finished," Spaceflower replied, pointing to the stage, where the Jettwins were evidently starting their own duet. This wasn't entirely unexpected, of course—those two flying Autobots really _did _do everything together.

Their song wasn't bad, either, but Starscream was waiting for it to be over, anyway. Now that he knew he had his _own _singing prowess, and not just Spaceflower's powers transferred over to him during spark bondage, he was quite eager to sing.

"Besides," Spaceflower told him, "I think we should save our duet for the last song of the night."

"Good point," Starscream agreed, nodding.

So they waited for some more Elite Guard Autobots to perform, then some random Cybertronian civilians, then finally…

"Well, folks, it's time for the last song of the night!" Skydive declared. "And who else to perform it but the newlyweds?"

The audience cheered. They had liked the last song, and they wanted more. Spaceflower grabbed Starscream's servo and ran onstage so she and her mech could sing once more. Both of them were good separately, but they were even better in a duet.

"Thank you, thank you!" Starscream said, performer-style.

After that it was time for the reception, which they had also decided to hold in the Party Lounge (mostly because there was really no other place for it). There was a table full of low-grade energon, Decepticon and Autobot motor oil, and candied cyberberries—of course, whenever there were any of those, Skydive would be the first to shove them into her mouth.

Lugnut was sitting at a table, looking a little dreamy. Starscream and Spaceflower (who was now holding Fireblast) sat down next to him.

"Everything okay, Lugnut?" asked Spaceflower.

"I know Megatron is as in love with me as I am with him…" Lugnut said. "I just don't know how to get him to admit it, so we can have the wedding I was dreaming of."

Neither Starscream nor Spaceflower had the heart to tell Lugnut that Megatron actually _wasn_'_t _in love with him, so, after a long silence, Spaceflower finally told him, "Well, one thing's for sure—no one will ever love Megatron like you do, Lugnut."

"You really think so?" Lugnut asked, perking up slightly.

"Yes, we do," Starscream replied. "Anyway, I better get going. I have to find Blitzwing, y'know, just to make sure he's not drinking too much energon."

"Good idea." Spaceflower stood up and grabbed Starscream's claw (as much as she could, since she was still holding their sparkling), and they walked over to where Blitzwing was sitting, alone, drinking some energon.

"Thanks for a good musical wedding, buddy," said Starscream, sitting down. "I enjoyed it."

"Where's Blackarachnia?" asked Spaceflower. "I thought she was your potential girlfriend, Blitzwing."

Blitzwing, now in Icy mode, just shrugged.

"Oh…there she is." Starscream pointed to where he saw Blackarachnia standing and laughing, but then he wished he hadn't. She was blatantly flirting with Optimus Prime, who seemed to be flirting as hard with her as she was with him.

"Come on," whispered Spaceflower, pulling Starscream's arm, and they snuck up behind Optimus and Blackarachnia, to eavesdrop on the potential couple.

"Optimus, you sang so well tonight," Blackarachnia giggled. "I miss you so much when we're apart."

"I miss you too, Blackarachnia," Optimus told her, and his aura suddenly became more serious. "You know, Blackarachnia…when some 'bots look at you they might see Blackarachnia, but I'm not lying when I say I still see Elita One."

"You really mean that?" Blackarachnia placed her servos on Optimus's shoulders and looked up into his optics.

"With all my spark," Optimus told her. "I don't know if you ever suspected this or not, but back when we were at Autobot Academy, and you were dating Sentinel Prime, I always wanted you to be my girlfriend. I was in love with you then, and I am just as much in love with you now."

"Well, one thing's for sure," Blackarachnia replied. "I'm never going back to Sentinel Prime. He sucks."

"Yes, I can understand why you wouldn't want to give him another chance." Optimus gently took one of Blackarachnia's servos in his own. "But…will you ever give me another chance?"

Blackarachnia leaned her head on Optimus's chestplate and told him, "Okay, Optimus Prime, but this is your _last_ chance."

"I love you, Elita One," Optimus whispered.

"I love you too, Optimus Prime," Blackarachnia whispered back. She reached up and grasped Optimus's faceplates, pulling him into a passionate kiss. Optimus kissed back and swung her around in a half circle, making the kiss they shared even more romantic.

"So _that_'_s _why she wanted to be a bridesmaid," Spaceflower said quietly. "I should have known."

"Dear Primus." Starscream shook his head. "You were right. She _is _tricky and untrustworthy."

"I guess I have a bit of a bias." Spaceflower shrugged and smiled a little guiltily. "We _are _enemies, after all. Kind of like you and Megatron."

"But what about Blitzwing?" asked Starscream.

"Hmm…I don't know." Spaceflower looked a little sad. "I hope he's okay."

Starscream stood up and was about to go with Spaceflower to check on their triple-changer friend, but then they heard Blackarachnia speak again.

"I have an announcement to make, everyone," she was saying.

"What kind of announcement, Blackarachnia?" Optimus asked. He was grinning.

"Well, I started out as an Autobot," said Blackarachnia. "And now I realized that even though I joined the Decepticons after I became part organic, I'm still an Autobot on the inside. So that's why I decided that as of tonight, I am joining Optimus Prime's team."

"_What_?" yelled Megatron.

"You heard me," Blackarachnia replied. "I was _never _a Decepticon, Megatron. I'm an Autobot on the inside, so that's why I'm going back."

"You're not doing it because you're an Autobot on the inside!" Starscream couldn't help yelling at her. "You're doing it because of Optimus Prime! Even though you already have a boyfriend!"

"Oh, shut your trap, Starscream," said Blackarachnia, dismissing him with a wave of her servo. "As of tonight, I am once again Elita One."

"You're right, Elita," Optimus told her. "Just because you look different on the outside doesn't mean you have to change who you are on the inside."

"I know." Blackarachnia kissed Optimus's lips again, and several guests whistled.

"No, you cannot just switch back like this, Blackarachnia," Megatron told her. "Unacceptable!"

"What are you going to do, Megatron?" Blackarachnia asked, taking Optimus's arm in hers. "Arrest me?"

Megatron growled, clenched his teeth, then finally sighed and said, "Go with Optimus if you must. I want loyal Decepticons on my team anyway, not femmes who will switch over as soon as they find a mech they like."

"As you wish," Blackarachnia said airily, and she and her new boyfriend got off the stage.

"Can I have her room, Megatron?" asked Thundercracker. "I refuse to be crowded into that room with four other Seekers any longer."

"FINE!" Megatron hollered. "You can have her room! Just SHUT UP!"

"Well, at least we finally got rid of her," Spaceflower said slowly.

"We should still go see how Blitzwing is doing though," Starscream reminded her, so they went back to Blitzwing's table.

"Are you…are you okay, Blitzwing?" Spaceflower asked, sitting down next to her friend.

"I suppose you were right, Spaceflower," Blitzwing told her, shrugging. "I did fall for her tricks after all."

"It doesn't matter," Spaceflower assured him. "She wasn't worth it."

"Don't worry, you two." Blitzwing looked up and smiled slightly. "I told you, if things do not work out, then they do not work out."

"Blitzwing, you guys had a great thing going, and she switched to the other _side _for a mech she knew from Autobot Academy," said Starscream incredulously. "That doesn't bother you at _all_?"

"Some things just were not meant to be," replied Icy, then switched to Random and screeched happily, "And now our friend Blitzwing is back on the market!"

"Well, if you need any mech time, let me know," Starscream said, patting Blitzwing on the shoulder and standing up.

"For now, though, I want some couple time, Starscream," whispered Spaceflower seductively.

"That can be arranged, my goddess…" Starscream fondly caressed the beautiful femme's wings.

Spaceflower leaned her head against her Seeker's chestplate and sighed contentedly. "All my life cycle I have been looking for someone just like you, Starscream."

"That makes two of us," Starscream told her softly, his spark beginning to pound. "I've been looking for someone like you, too."

Spaceflower looked up, her optics brimming with tears; Starscream felt hot tears burning his own optics as yet another magical kiss with his spark-mate began. It was true—he _had _been looking for someone like her.

And he had finally found her.

…

"Mom, Dad!" they heard Skydive call. "You guys gonna stand there all night, or do you want to do some more dancing?"

Starscream and Spaceflower looked at their daughter, who was grinning, waiting for the music to start.

"It's true," Starscream told Spaceflower happily, as he took her servo and led her off to literally dance the night away. "Decepticons really _do _have more fun."

-the end-


End file.
